The Uprising
by HiccupHorrendousHaddockTheIII
Summary: Even with each new person being collared and marked, Hiro still believed that he could change something. That the Big Hero 6 could make a difference. They'd done it once before, so why should this be much harder?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, so, this is my first fan fiction! So, I hope every things turns out okay. The formatting of the chapter seems a little different than what it seems to be like on Word, but fingers crossed for it at least being readable (sorry, kinda only used to keeping my writing to myself on my computer...). I added the 'x's to show a break in the scene, so hopefully everything seems to go a little smoother. Please feel free to comment any thoughts, I'll be glad to read anything you have to say (be it good or bad!). Just as a forewarning, there will be some swearing throughout the story :)**

Chapter 1

It had taken Hiro a while to notice it. It had taken him fifteen years to notice it, but he noticed it eventually.

You could say that he began to look at the world a bit closer after Tadashi's death, and everything that happened with Callaghan. And as he looked closer at the world, he noticed the world started looking back at him. Well, the world started to look at him with a little bit more hatred. Or had the world always looked at him this way?

Hiro could never tell, but as he looked back, he wished he had noticed it sooner, that he could have done something sooner. He realized that perhaps this thought was foolish, because no amount of talking, or hitting things, or stopping evil could prevent the ever growing hatred, for it had started long before he was born. Long before his parents had been born.

Hiro had often wondered if anyone had ever stopped to notice that things were changing? Hiro knew Aunt Cass had noticed, but Hiro knew why she didn't say anything. She was just trying to protect him from what was happening. Hiro always, always wondered if Tadashi had noticed, and Hiro figured that he probably had. Tadashi had always been the more street smart of the two of them, but Hiro had learnt fast. He learnt where to avoid, he learnt that he needed things to change, because San Franksokyo was slowly going to destroy itself and Hiro couldn't sit back and watch it as that happened.

And he knew that one day they would come and get him, that the Big Hero 6 would come back and save him. They were his team, and he depended on them as much as they depended on him. He knew that they would come for him soon, so that he could go back to Aunt Cass and try to change things, because he couldn't let things continue as they had.

**xxxxx**

The first time it happened, Hiro was with Aunt Cass. They were walking along the street; Hiro was talking a mile a minute about his classes at SFIT, as Cass listened. Cass was happy for Hiro, things were finally looking up for them, and she thought that for once the two of them could have some peace to finally try to be a family, no matter how small they had become.

Hiro hadn't really been paying attention to where he was going, and neither had Cass, their feet had walked them along on autopilot. Hiro didn't see the man, until he walked into him.

'Watch it, fucking half-breed.'

Hiro turned to the man and started at him, feeling as if his world had stopped. 'What did you call me?'

Hiro didn't know how to react, never once had he ever been called something like that, and he didn't know how to react to it.

'Hiro, come on. Forget it.' Cass said, giving the man an icy glare and she tried to unstick Hiro from his place.

'He's a disgrace. There's no place in this city for people like him.' The man replied, turning to look at Cass directly.

'There's no place in the city for racists like you, actually.' Cass told him, before turning and walking away.

'One day you'll see. One day we won't have to deal with scum like him. No fucking half-breeds, and no Japanese. You'll see the kind of peace we'll achieve then.' The man shouted after them. By this point, heads in the street had began to turn in Hiro's direction and he had never felt so embarrassed… so inferior, in his life.

'Don't you look at them, Hiro. They wouldn't see beauty even if it hit them in the face.' Cass explained to him, gripping his hand like she did all those years ago, when Hiro had been scared to be left alone.

'Why did that happen, Aunt Cass?' Hiro asked her, still stupefied by what had happened.

'I'll explain when we get home.' Was all Aunt Cass told him, and Hiro let it drop. But he could still hear the whispers, he could still feel the stares at his back.

_She's just as bad as them, taking one in._ _What does she think she's doing with something as vile as that?_ Hiro didn't want to hear, he knew what he was, and that had never stopped him before. San Fransokyo had a massive Japanese population, and what Hiro believed to be a thriving Japanese population. Hiro could not understand why this was so wrong all of a sudden.

'Don't ever let the opinion of one man ever get you down, Hiro. Trust me, not everyone believes the same as him, just look at yourself.' Aunt Cass reassured him, looking down at him. She hated it, she had hidden it for so long. Managed to avoid explaining things to him, but she knew things were changing. She knew that things wouldn't be that easy for much longer, and now her time had run out and it didn't look like things would get much better.

**xxxxx**

This was Hiro's first encounter with racial hatred, and Aunt Cass never explained anything to him. He waited for days for her to say something, but she never did. Things went back to normal for some time, but the uprising came soon after. And this time, no one held back. Hiro would spend hours looking back at the days with Tadashi and wonder how things had gotten like this, how he couldn't have noticed something like this developing. Wondering if there was anything he could have done to stop this, but Cass had consistenly told hinm that this was something that had been developing from long before he was born, and that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Even now, there wasn't much hope in stopping it. Even with the slightest hope that there were other countries trying their best to bring about the end of a civil war. There were still riots spreading throughout the city, and every day more and more half-breeds and Japanese ended up in this bunker. Even with each new person being collared and marked, Hiro still believed that he could change something. That the Big Hero 6 could make a difference.

They'd done it once before, so why should this be much harder?


	2. Chapter 2

**So, welcome to the second chapter. I hope people enjoy!**

**Just wanted to thank everyone who read/favourited/alerted?/reviewed. Just knowing that there were people out there clicking on this story is both an exciting and nervous prospect!**

**Anyway, here's to chapter 2, and I hope everyone enjoys. Feel free to comment on anything you think needs improving etc, and I'll try to correct/get back to you as soon as possible.**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 2

'So, how did you get in here?' One Japanese man asked Hiro as they sat in the mess hall eating the meager offerings they'd been given.

Hiro eyed the man closely, knowing that not everyone who entered the camp could be fully trusted. Hiro didn't blame the people that went and snitched on each other, they were usually given incentives. More food, a good word for escape. Hiro knew better by this point, that by giving someone up didn't grant you anything extra, and you escaped in a different way than you thought you would. But getting out of here in some semblance of a single piece was better than staying here and watching the people wilt away. Hiro figured it was better to lose a bit of trust in people than to be wholly naïve and leave here in a box. Well, a box if they were feeling particularly nice.

Hiro shuddered just thinking back to the 'campfires' they'd had before. The smell had been something that would Hiro would forever remember, and something he wished he would never have to experience again.

'I gave myself up,' Hiro told him, it wasn't something that was unknown on this camp, but not many people know the complete reason. 'They threatened someone very close to me.'

'They caught me trying to escape the city.' The man told Hiro. 'I felt like this was all going unnoticed, and that someone needed to know what was going on here.'

'They would be pretty stupid not to have noticed anything by now.' Hiro said to him.

'They were acting pretty oblivious when I was out.'

'That's the point. They were acting like they didn't know. Trust me, I'm sure everyone knows, now. It's just a case of waiting.' Hiro added. Hiro did have some hope, it was small, but he gripped it with all that he had. He couldn't lose it.

Hiro turned back to his food, and stared. He also had doubts, he, himself, had began to wonder what was taking so long for this to all be over. He worried that maybe something had happened to his friends, that they couldn't get to him. He hadn't heard from anyone in so long, and he knew he should have every faith that they were trying to figure out how to get to him, but there was always that niggling sense of doubt.

'How can you just wait and not do anything?' The man suddenly asked.

'Trust me, it's something you learn here.' Hiro told him, and it suddenly it shocked him how much this place had changed him. Before, he wouldn't have waited for anyone. He would have been the first one out there and the first one trying to sort this situation out. But this time, the stakes were different, and he had to try his best to not let the people closest to him suffer for something that not even he could help.

'Are your parents here?' The man suddenly asked.

'No.' Hiro answered, Hiro knew if they were still alive, both of his parents would be here. His mother for loving a Japanese man, and his father for being Japanese, something neither of them could have helped either. 'They died when I was younger.'

'Oh, sorry.' A small laugh escaped Hiro, and the man turned to look at Hiro funny.

'I just find it funny that you're apologizing for something like that when we're stuck here.' Hiro explained to him, 'we're in a bigger problem here than my parents are. Luckily, they didn't live long enough to see everything fall apart so spectacularly.'

_Especially Tadashi_ Hiro added mentally, he didn't know how Tadashi would have dealt with this kind of situation. _Actually_, Hiro thought, _he would have been out on the front lines with Baymax, fighting to free the people. I was always the one willing to sit down and do nothing_.

_Something around here needs to change_, Hiro thought to himself as he stood and walked towards the exit of the food hall.

Xxxxx

Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi, and Fred sat in The Lucky Cat Café together. It had been a long day for them, and each of them was beyond the point of recognizing themselves as being tired. The news of one of the members of the Big Hero 6 being of Japanese descent had hit the news recently, and the rest had taken the time to lay low. The media were speculating who that person could have been, but with no one truly knowing where all the Japanese had been taken, no one knew who to ask the questions to, as the government certainly weren't answering the questions.

After all, it had been quite hard to hide the fact that one member of the Big Hero 6 was missing.

'What's the plan?' Wasabi asked, looking around at the group of people around him.

'So far, we know what everyone else knows.' Gogo answered. 'Until we know more, there's not much we can do.'

'We could have used Baymax to scan the area to see if Hiro is around, he's got all of Hiro's stats logged.' Fred suggested.

'Then what? Even if we did have Baymax, what would we have done then?' Gogo asked.

'We'd go and rescue him.' Honey Lemon stated.

'I'm not sure it's going to be that easy.' Gogo answered.

'What makes you say that?' Honey Lemon asked.

'Well,' Wasabi started, 'for starters, we have no idea what kind of situation he's going to be in. Even if they aren't doing anything physical to him, we don't know what they're doing mentally to him. Secondly, it's going to be hard to get to just him, we'll have to scout out the area, see if we can find him, then make a plan on getting him out.'

'Even then, we aren't totally sure what he's going to be like getting out of there.' Gogo added, 'you know what he's been like recently. You can't just rescue one person. It has to be everyone.'

'So, we'll just have to kidnap him back!' Fred shouted.

The rest glared at him.

'Sorry.' Fred whispered. 'But that's totes how it's going to have to be done.'

'Well, let's get to it then.' Gogo said, as Honey Lemon stood up and walked upstairs to where she knew Cass was going to be. They needed this all to work. Hiro had been gone long enough, and they had wasted enough time not knowing what to do.

Xxxxx

_I've wasted enough time not doing anything_ Hiro thought, _Tadashi wouldn't be happy._

Hiro walked to the center of the camp he had been trapped on for so long, and cleared his throat. He knew that this would have such a negative effect on his life here, but he needed to do this. He needed to start something. He couldn't just sit around and let them do whatever the hell they wanted to him anymore.

'Hello, my name is Hiro Hamada.' He shouted into the camp, knowing that people were starting to turn to look at him. He knew _he_ was looking at him, _him_ and all the guards. 'And I'm here to set us all free.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey there, so, I'm not too sure I like this one. It feels kinda rushed and like it jumps all over the place without really going anywhere. I did have a bit of a moment where I just didn't know where I wanted to take this chapter, and things I thought I wanted to happen, are now happening in totally different places and new things want to be added before that can happen... So, it started out as a clear cut chapter that kind of lost its way part way through. **

**But, the next chapter is going to be better. I promise!**

**Also, just as a warning that I have kept forgetting to put up on the previous ones, is that there is going to be quite a bit of racism in this fan fiction. And it will start to come into play more and more, and the whole segregation aspect will come into play more and more. So, yeah, just a warning.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 3

**_The American Oppression_**

_Don't you, as a healthy fully blooded American feel the oppression? Don't you feel oppressed? No? You should!_

_The Japanese have taken us for granted for too long. It is time we fought back, and retook our land as our own!_

_Do you not think it strange that every other city in America has no relation to our dirty Japanese brothers? How is it we have been left behind by our own people? That, we, of all people have been left behind? Not thought of?_

_Worry no more. For we shall eradicate the Japanese and all of the relics that their dirty past has left upon our beautiful landscape._

Hiro stared at the pamphlet in shock. He did not understand. He was supposed to be the genius of the family, but for once he was at a loss.

'Hey, Aunt Cass…' Hiro started, walking up the stairs at the back of the café towards where Aunt Cass was seated in the living room. 'Do you ever feel oppressed by me?'

Sure, Hiro could usually grasp situations pretty well, and he didn't like to think of himself as completely oblivious, but he was certain that none of the people he knew that weren't Japanese felt oppressed by him.

'What do you mean, Hiro?' Cass asked him, confused.

'This pamphlet was just put through the door.' Hiro explained, holding out the pamphlet to Cass to take. Hiro got the feeling that something big was about to happen, but he wasn't totally sure how he was going to stop it. He didn't understand how things were beginning to change so suddenly.

Cass looked at the pamphlet, reading it, then rereading it.

'Oh, it's nothing, Hiro. Don't even think about it.' She explained to him, not looking up at him.

'I can't not think about it.' Hiro argued. 'These people seem really angry.'

Hiro was beginning to get worried, since the incident a couple of weeks ago, people had began to look at him differently. One of his lecturers had even failed one of his tests, and he knew for certain he had got every question right. He even had Gogo look over the answers with him, and she couldn't even find an answer wrong.

'It's nothing you've done wrong, Hiro.' Cass tried explaining.

'But these people seem to think that I've done something wrong.' Hiro told her.

_I feel like I've been so stupid. _Hiro thought, _this isn't something that just pops up over night_.

Hiro walked towards the stairs leading to his room. He needed to know more. He needed to know what was going on, and what he, or the Japanese had done so wrong that lead people to believe that they needed to be gotten rid of.

**Xxxxx**

'I'm here to set us all free.' Hiro said to the expressionless men in front of him. He noted at the side of his vision that a group of men in military uniforms were walking toward him, but he paid them no mind. He needed to help these people. He was done walking blindly into situations. He couldn't just keep walking around hoping that something was going to change. He needed to be the change that saved these people's lives. Even if it meant the end of his own.

'I know we've been stuck here for a long time now,' He started, 'but we shouldn't have to live like this. We aren't animals. We are our own people, and I know deep down that we can all live together. We can get over this hurdle and be friends.

'We're part of the biggest multicultural cities in America. We are not a minority. We need to live together!'

Suddenly, someone was grabbing Hiro from behind. Turning around to fend off his attackers, Hiro felt a baton clip him around the head and cuffs attach to his wrists.

'We can stop this!' Hiro belted across the crowd as the officers started dragging him away. 'We don't have to live like this anymore.'

'We live how they tell us to live.' One man shouted back at him, but that was all Hiro saw before a door was shut in his face and the outside world darkening.

Yet, little did Hiro know that he had just started the uprising. An uprising that would trigger a series of events that would be both great and cataclysmic.

**Xxxxx**

'Okay, so we've narrowed Hiro's location down to one of these three places, right?' Fred asked, looking at the group around him as they stared down at a map in front of them.

'Yes, with Baymax's scanner's down and Hiro being the only one who knows how to program him, we've had to do a little bit of scouting.' Gogo supplied, staring at three x's, each of different locations on the outskirts of San Fransokyo.

'Just so everyone knows, I'm a crap actor and I'm sure they're now aware that someone is looking into the camps.' Wasabi added.

'There's not much we can do there,' Gogo answered him.

'Yeah, we just need to go and check out these three places, finding Hiro will be a synch.' Honey Lemon told the group eagerly.

'Yeah, then we'll bust in there, bust Hiro out and figure out how we put an end to this mess.' Fred shouted, standing from the table with his fist in the air.

'So, here's the plan…'

**Xxxxx**

_'__Can you do it?'_

_ '__No.'_

_ '__You see, I don't believe you.'_

_ '__You don't have to believe me... No matter how much you try to change me, I just can't do it.'_

_ '__Don't worry, one day, it'll work.'_

_ '__And how much are you going to put me through to get there?'_

_'__It hurts… please stop.'_

_ '__Please stop… I can't take it anymore._

_ '__Please, I can't do it._

_ '__No, I won't do it. Even if I could do it, I'd never do it for you.'_

_ '__Oh, trust me. One day, you wait and see. One day, we'll have accomplished something amazing.'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, welcome back to chapter 4 of The Uprising, I hope you've all had a good week! I've had quite a bit of fun writing this chapter, and yes, before anyone asks, I am a bit of a crazy person. But you win some, you lose some, right?**

**But anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed/read/favourited/alerted. I hope you continue to do so for this chapter. It is slightly longer than usual (only by about 500 words or so, so hopefully you don't mind... I usually aim for about 1,000 to 1,200 per chapter, but this one just wanted to carry on ;P)**

**So, here's chapter 4, I hope you enjoy!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 4

'Hey, kid…. Hey, kid!' Someone was calling to him, but Hiro couldn't find it in himself to be particularly bothered to reply. His body felt heavy, and his head was pounding to a beat of a drum too fast to fit into any song he knew of.

'Kid, you need to wake up.' The voice was becoming pretty insistent that he responded, but yet, the pounding in his head prevented him from forming any kind of reply. 'Don't let them catch you sleeping like that. I don't know what they'll do to you if you over sleep.'

Hiro knew for certain what they'd do to him if he overslept. In his earlier days of being on the camp, he had been more inclined to be a little more rebellious. Hiro had believed that he wouldn't have been staying here for very long, that this had all been some big misunderstanding and that he would, sooner rather than later, be heading back to Aunt Cass and they would all laugh and joke around about how ridiculous this whole escapade had been.

They'd soon taught him how ridiculous that had been.

Hiro shuddered, before groaning to acknowledge the now insistent shaking of his shoulder to show that he was awake and getting himself up.

'Thank God, thought you'd never come round,' the man sighed. 'They must have done a real number on you.'

'You wouldn't believe it.' Hiro answered, knowing full well that this man would definitely not believe it. Only a few people on the camp would actually believe him to what went on at the camp.

Hiro opened his eyes to look around and found many others waking sleeping men up. This was a sort of comeraderie that Hiro had come to expect from the people at the camp. In the barracks, they were friends, where watchful eyes weren't on them, they knew to look out for one another.

**Xxxxx**

Days at the camp had a strict routine. The warden's believed that a strict routine were the only way of stopping the people from trying incite a rebellion, keeping them in order. They were only ever allowed to eat at certain times, and sneaking food from the fields resulted in punishment. You were only allowed to go to the bathroom at certain times. If you went any other time, that would also end in punishment. Doing anything out of routine resulted in punishment.

Even down to looking your warden directly in the eye ended in punishment. Hiro knew this because he had been on the end of the punishments far too many times. The marks across his back, some scaring, some still healing were a testament to that.

Their day would start with waking at 5.30, where they would then be lead down to the mess hall to get their breakfast. If there was ever enough to go around, and people always scrambled for the first meal of the day knowing that if they didn't get anything now, they would not get anything until much later than day.

Following the wake up, they would then be expected to work in the fenced fields surrounding the camp. They would grow food on this camp. They would work here from 6.30 till 12.30, where they would then be allowed for their first toilet break and lunch. Hiro didn't even bother to call it lunch half the time, as a banana and bread didn't really cover much for lunch. But he knew that he had to eat it if he wanted to survive any longer here. After that, they would all be separated for their own need. Hiro always ended his day with the warden, and that was something he would not like to remember. He hated his time with the wardens.

Hiro had begun to convince himself that the warden's knew who he was, knew that in his free time, and sometimes his not so free time, would help save San Fransokyo with the Big Hero 6. They suspected that he was perhaps the leader of said group. They wouldn't be much wrong, as he was the right height and build to fit the role. He knew they weren't stupid. Especially the ones he met regularly.

Then, at 18.30, Hiro would either find himself back in his room trying to sleep off the pain in his head and his body, or at the mess hall trying to eat some dinner. Then, depending on how they had behaved throughout the day, they would then either find themselves tied to a post with a cane to the back, or being forced to watch someone else tied to a post with a cane to the back. Hiro usually found himself as the one tied to the post.

Sometimes, he found himself like that even when he hadn't even done anything. Sometimes they just liked to single him out, because they didn't 'like the way he looked'.

Hiro knew there were other camps like this, but he didn't know much of what went on in them. He didn't know if they were any nicer or any worse than what they were experiencing here, but he knew they existed from the wardens who would quietly talk of moving between camps.

Though, he did know one thing. Any and all talk of rebellion was quickly put out. The prisoners had no hope, and he knew he wanted to be the one who wanted to give them some kind of hope. Hiro just needed to figure out how he would do that without getting himself killed first.

**Xxxxx**

Wasabi looked at the wired fences in the distance.

'So, this one is called Kamata. This is one of the three male designated camps just outside of San Fransokyo that Hiro is probably being kept at.' Wasabi explained.

'Why do they separate them?' Fred asked, staring at the fence.

'In case they try to, you know, make children.' Wasabi explained awkwardly.

'Ah, okay, dude.' Fred replied, not even looking back at Wasabi.

'Guys, have we even thought about the idea that Hiro might not even be at one of these camps? They could be holding him anywhere.' Gogo asked.

'Thought about it.' Wasabi told her.

'But it's better to take a stab in the dark and check. Because we just don't know.' Honey Lemon added. This was the second camp that they were checking. The first had given no sign that Hiro was there or had ever been there, and the things they did find at the other camp, Shinagawa, had left them all reeling, and even more desperate to find Hiro.

'Besides, where else would he be than here?' Wasabi added.

'Alright, lets just go and check.' Gogo replied, looking around. 'Lets start towards the back and make our way back towards here.'

'Okay, lets do this, guys!' Fred shouted as they started to make their way towards the camp.

**Xxxxx**

Hiro walked towards the mess hall for his dinner, knowing that the wardens were going to be extra hard on him today after his 'escapade' yesterday. He could feel his back burning already.

'11281931.' One of the wardens shouted, and Hiro knew that was him now without even looking down at the number etched in ink on his forearm.

'Yes, sir.' Hiro answered as the mess hall went silent and stared at him as he walked towards the warden. Hiro wanted to be one of the ones who would sit down and cry, he wanted to be the defiant one who tried to run away as they went to grab him. He built up so many situations in his head where he would be one of those brave or scared people, but he couldn't find it in himself to be anything other than apathetic. Even as the warden grabbed his shoulder and dragged him across the mess hall out towards one of the poles.

He didn't even say anything when he knew that they usually kept this kind of punishment for the evening.

He couldn't even find it in himself to resist when they took off his shirt and tied him to the pole. He knew that nothing he could do would change anything, and he knew he would suffer more for fighting back. So, he resigned himself to his fate, and allowed it to happen.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, guys! Here's chapter 5 of this fic, and I hope you all enjoy.**

**A couple of things were flagged up in reviews from the last chapter and were left as guest reviews, so I'm going to be addressing them here, so if you're not interested in the replies, then read on and let me know what you think! **

**Guest: I don't really understand your statement. Did you mean it to read like 'did anyone reading this think of the Nazi Occupation', or as 'why aren't the characters in this fic thinking of the Nazi Occupation'. If it's the former, then that's great! I'm glad this little fan fiction is making you think of something as al works of fiction have some sort of grounding in the real world. There's also the really similar case Internment of the Japanese American's during WW2 to think about too. But, in all honesty, it wasn't something I thought of initially, it was only after the whole camp idea came up when I was writing the first chapter that it did flag up in my mind. So, I am aware of it. If it's the latter, then that's me being a bit stupid. If this is the case, I'll keep it in mind to work into later chapters, so thanks for raising it!**

**Asome: Sorry the first couple of bits were confusing, it's supposed to be the camp is the present, and the stuff happening to Hiro outside the camp is a flashback. It's more of a criticism on my writing style which has always been a bit jumpy, particularly when I want to go foreman idea to the next and try to be a bit dramatic, but sometimes runs a bit better in my head than in writing. **

**In response to your criticism of my using single inverted commas instead of using double inverted as being wrong, then that's a bit of a culture clash. In British publication standards, some companies only accept works in single inverted commas with double inverted being used inside the dialogue marks. Though, both are accepted either way, I just prefer single inverted as I personally think it looks neater. Doing your BA and Masters in English Lit also get you into the habit of doing it with single inverted as that's what most lecturers ask for. But, hey, if you want to go 'all LA discussion' on me, then go ahead. I've just been accepted onto my PhD in English Literature, so I'll gladly accept discussion on English grammar :)**

**On another note, thanks to everyone who reviewed/read/favourited/alerted this story. It means a lot, so thank you!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 5

Fred, Gogo, Wasabi and Honey Lemon all walked in a tight group around the camp, trying their best not to be seen. It wasn't really until they had managed to get in there had they realized the amount of influence Fred's family had on San Fransokyo, having watched him barter with his name for the permission to walk the camp. It was decided they would walk through the camp after they had walked the perimeter of the camp, but they could not see much.

'Just don't act suspicious.' Fred had warned them in an almost serious voice, but they hadn't needed telling. The mood of the wardens had been an excitable one, and they had accepted Fred's unexpected visit with enthusiasm.

The camp itself was bleak and desolate, they had been told that the prisoners were currently eating and not to expect anything exciting to happen for a while. This was when they decided they would use the quietness of the dinner hour to their advantage, slowly, but surely they walked through each of the barracks and the surrounding cabins looking inside for any sign of Hiro.

'Maybe we should look for the food hall?' Gogo suggested, looking through one of the doors leading into a sleeping area.

'Sure, if he's going to be anywhere here, he's going to be eating, right?' Fred replied and started walking towards the center of the camp.

Xxxxx

'Get on your knees,' One of the warden's ordered Hiro as he ripped off his shirt and grabbed his wrists in a tight grip.

Hiro wanted to grimace at the pain in his wrist, knowing that he would have marks there in the morning.

'Grab his wrists,' Another warden ordered, and Hiro felt his wrists being taken by someone else. 'He needs them tied, and don't let him escape! This one has a reputation.'

Hiro hadn't even bothered to look up at what the warden's looked like, let alone what they were actually doing with him before he heard it.

'What the hell's going on?' Hiro stopped and blinked, every fiber of his being certain that the voice belonged to Gogo.

But he was sure he must have been dreaming, because he hadn't heard her voice in months.

Xxxxx

'Fred, sir,' a warden shouted, running to catch up with the gang. 'It is great to have someone of your stature visit us at the camp.'

'Uh, it's good to meet you, too, uh?' Fred replied looking at the short warden.

'Oh, it's Hague, sir, Warden Hague.' The man stuttered, turning red.

'That's great, nice to meet you, Hague. These are my people, Wasabi, Gogo and Honey Lemon.' Fred introduced, looking at each friend in turn.

'So, Hague, anything good happening today?' Gogo asked, looking down at her nails. She knew she had been mistaken for Japanese often over the last few months, and didn't want to draw attention to herself today.

'Yes, miss, that's what I was sent for.' Hague started, looking at Gogo suspiciously.

'It's cool, bro. She's Korean.' Fred explained, looking between the two.

'Oh, that's great. Well, the commander said that they were putting on a show just for your visit. They are preparing for the show in the center of the camp just as we speak.' Hague explained, 'so, if you'd like to follow me and I'll take you there now.'

'Thanks, dude.' Fred replied. Wasabi turned to the group and looked at them worriedly.

'I'm not sure how good of an idea this is, guys.' He whispered when the warden turned to lead them away.

'What choice do we have? Honey Lemon asked, looking around for any sign of Hiro.

'So, what kind of show are we going to see?' Wasabi called out to Hague who was striding along in front.

'Ah, yes, that's a surprise. Though, the commander apologises, as he was not expecting your visit, so things have been done in a rather impromptu manner.' Hague explained vaguely, not even looking behind him.

'Maybe Hiro will be there,' Honey Lemon whispered, 'we can't pass up this opportunity.'

But, the kind of show they were introduced to was definitely not one they were expecting.

In front of them kneeled Hiro, thin and frail. His hair cut short and his usually vibrant eyes were blank. Honey Lemon gasped, Hiro looked as if he had aged centuries in the six months they had not seen him. She was frozen in shock, unable to move. No matter what she had expected Hiro to be like, this was not it. She never expected for her reunion with Hiro to be one with him kneeling, his shirt lying on the ground next to him, his ribs prominent with his skin stretched thinly over them. Honey Lemon looked up his thin arms and noticed his wrists being tied to the pole in front of him.

But the thing that shocked her the most was Hiro's reaction to what was going on around him. He wasn't reacting at all, he was blank, this was something that he was used to, and she could feel a block in her throat. She could feel her face heat up, the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes, her vision going blurry.

'What the hell is this?' She heard Gogo say, but she couldn't even bring herself to respond. She was frozen to her place, paralyzed and unable to move, her gaze solely focused on Hiro.

She saw him react, she saw the light of recognition. Then the dawning of fear, and relief. He looked up at them, and the fear over took the relief, as if begging with them not to say anything. He knew what was going to happen, he had accepted that, but he did not want to cause them any trouble. '_Just go with it_,' she could hear him mentally urging them on, to continue with the act as if nothing was wrong with the scene in front of them.

Honey Lemon nodded, for all her words and wisdom, for all their fighting, she knew when to act brave, and when to act the part. She'd had plenty of practice over time.

'This,' A man replied, and Honey Lemon couldn't even bring herself to look at him, but she straightened her posture, and looked at Hiro a little stronger, dimming the light of recognition. This was not Hiro anymore. 'Is prisoner 11281931, he's one of our most notorious prisoners. Yesterday, he attempted to start a rebellion.

'He tried to escape, and that is something that is not permitted from this camp. I'm not sure about any of the other camps you visited, young lady, but we have a zero tolerance policy for rebellion.' He continued as if talking at some court hearing, but the verdict had already been decided, Hiro's fate had already been sealed. 'To dampen any thoughts of rebellion or escape, we like to make an example. To make a show.'

'Usually, these little shows are held in the evening, to remind them before they go to sleep that they have to obey our commands, but since you are here this afternoon, we thought we'd give you a show nice and early.' Hague continued for the other warden, a grin developing on his face. 'So, get ready for a nice show. How many lashings, sir?'

'20,' The other warden replied, and Honey Lemon finally broke her gaze from Hiro and noticed that this man seemed to be of a higher status, perhaps the commander himself. 'Nice and hard, now.'

'Just look at me,' Hiro quietly told them, and even in this state, this small boy who had quickly become a man, had the power to grab their attention. They could all feel that he was telling them that he was going to be all right, that they couldn't do anything no matter what they did to him.

'That's right, boy. You're the main show, here.' Hague laughed and bent down to Hiro's level.

'Now then, prisoners, scum, fellow warden's, friends.' The other man began, turning to address the crowd in front of him. 'As your deputy commander, I give you the show of the afternoon. Don't worry, you'll resume normal duties after this spectacular show, but first I have a few words to say. This prisoner here tried to convince you to rebel, to seek freedom and peace when there is no such thing. You are the filth of the universe, and that is how it will always be. So, now we will show you exactly what happens to those who try to leave our hospitality.'

'Start,' Hague ordered, and a man with a long leather whip stepped forward from the surrounding warden's, confident in his duty to his commander. Honey Lemon didn't even see him raise the whip, she was focused on Hiro. She had to be strong, just for him. She could not let him see her fall apart when he was the one suffering, but in that moment, she was suffering too. She felt her heart break, someone she had come to think of as a brother was about to be caned in front of her and she couldn't do anything about it.

Honey Lemon watched as Hiro tensed his body, ready for the impact. She watched as he scrunched his face up preparing for the pain. She watched as a muffled yell broke free as the whip came down.

And she continued to watch it, until 20 lashings had passed and blood flowed freely down Hiro's back. And she watched as he was dragged away, flinching in pain, barely holding on to the little consciousness he had left.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, guys! First off, let me thank everyone who came and read this little story. I seriously did not expect it to get this much attention! It's a little crazy to think that there's people out there enjoying this :) **

**Thanks for all the reviews, and to asome (post publishing chapter, I feel like I was probably a bit rude to you last week, and I'm sorry for that. But don't say you'll be lucky to get an art degree, I know from experience what that feels like. Throughout my time in education up until I did my BA, everyone told me that I'd be lucky to pass my GCSE's/A Levels/Get a degree in the first place, so if no one else believes in you, believe in yourself and you can achieve so much (it also motivates you to work harder to prove them wrong :P))**

**Also, apologies if this chapter is a bit all over the place, I've had a bit of a bad week, but hopefully you'll all enjoy.**

**Thanks again for all the reads/reviews/alerts/favourites!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 6

Fred watched it all, taking in everything. He watched as Hiro tensed his body, he watched as the whip cracked against his back. He took in every detail of Hiro's body, watching the rise and fall of his chest in quick successions as he struggled to keep himself conscious.

Fred's gaze wandered to Hiro's arm, his eyes focusing on his wrists where the rope was tightly tied and attached to the pole. Further down, Fred's caught sight of a tattoo, the numbers "11281931" written in a perfectly straight line on the underneath of his forearm. Fred memorized the number, knowing for sure that the number would come in handy soon.

Looking up at the viewers standing around Hiro, Fred noticed all of the prisoners in similar attire of dirty white shirts and light brown cotton trousers. The prisoners had varying expressions of pity, anger and sadness. Some even looked on with a blank expression. Fred shuddered to think how these people had become so used to seeing someone get flogged that it didn't affect them anymore.

The flogging ended seemingly after a long age, but Fred could not draw his eyes away from the pole. It wasn't anything fancy, it wasn't even that tall. It stood about 3 and a half feet off the ground and was made with wood. It looked pretty sturdy, and there were smattering's of blood decorating it.

After Hiro's body had been dragged away and taken somewhere neither of them knew of, the crowd that had formed around the pole had steadily dispersed, all the prisoners knowing that the show was now over, and it was time to return to their work.

Honey Lemon turned to look at the rest of the group, and saw equally the looks of stunned shock on their faces.

'So, what happens to him now?' Fred asked, trying to distance himself from the situation.

'He will be returned to work,' the deputy commander answered, not turning to face them.

'Right,' Fred replied to him. 'Do you mind if we continue to look around for a bit longer, just to see how things are going here?'

'You may, but try not to distract my prisoners too much. They do have to work.' The deputy answered.

'Could we also be a bit intrusive and ask to see that kid?' Wasabi asked.

'Why?' The deputy asked suspiciously.

'I'm sure we would all like to see him ourselves, to make sure he understands his lesson.' Wasabi replied nervously.

'We don't let visitors talk to the prisoners.' He replied, and Wasabi knew that his reply was more of a case that the deputy commander didn't trust them and not that he didn't let them visit.

'I'm sure my father will not like that answer.' Fred told the deputy commander, looking him directly in the eye. Fred did not usually like using his position in these sorts of occasions, but he knew they had to see Hiro, to make sure he was okay.

'I'll see what Commander Johnson says, but the answer is going to be no. No matter who your father is.'

'Thanks. So, what do we call you?' Wasabi asked nervously.

'Deputy Commander Hardie.' Came a grunted reply, before Hardie started walking from the group. 'I'll get Hague to find you and bring you the answer.'

No one in the group answered him, and all turned to look at each other. No one dared say anything; for fear that Hardie was listening in on their conversation. They couldn't risk the one opportunity of getting to see Hiro they would get.

Xxxxx

Hiro felt his body being slammed down on the chair, and his arms being released and retied to the chair.

'Seriously, guys?' Hiro moaned. 'Can't you leave a guy alone for one afternoon?'

'Commander Johnson himself ordered for you to continue this afternoon, no matter how badly injured you ended up being.' A warden Hiro had come to know as Blake told him.

'And I keep telling him, that none of this is working. I can't do anything.' Hiro replied to him.

'And the commander always tells you that it will continue till you either give in and tell us that it's working, or until it's actually working. The only other scenario he can see happening is you dying, and he knows that he can just get someone else to try it out on.' Blake snidely replied.

'So, why doesn't he just get someone else? It would just be so much easier for him.' Hiro stated.

'My question to you would be similar. Would you want anyone else to do this?'

Hiro didn't reply, and Hiro knew Blake knew the answer. Hiro would never let someone else deal with this day after day. He could barely stand it, but he could not let anyone else suffer as he had. But that did not mean he would make it easy for them.

They could try and take everything from him, but he knew that he would not bow under them, and that he would not let them get what they wanted, no matter how hard they tried, even though it was beginning to get so much harder to control it.

Hiro would persevere, and he would prevail, because he knew in the future it would not be like this. Things would be better, things would be happier, and he would try his damn hardest to make it possible.

'So, lets try this properly this time,' Blake started. 'We'll start off slow, and work our way back up through the exercises, okay?'

Hiro looked up to Blake, and saw the bored glint in his eye and decided not to answer him. He could feel the blood begin to dry on his back, a crusty, dirty sensation developing on his skin. Deciding to ignore that feeling, and the numb throbbing pain emanating from his back, Hiro focuses solely on not messing up. He could feel a tightness in his ribs, but he was almost positive it was from a potential cracked rib from the whip. But, he could not focus on this.

He focused solely on Blake, looked him in between the eyes, on the dark hairs of his eyebrows and tried not to think about hurting him.

A part of Hiro wanted to hurt him so badly, to make him suffer, to see how much he enjoyed being in this situation, to have no control over what was happening to him, but he knew, deep down, he knew that this wasn't the way forward. That he would need to deal with his anger some other way, that punishing the people that hurt him in the same way he was hurt would not change a thing. He would just be proving them right.

Hiro had grown up plenty over the last few months. It had taken a while, he was a stubborn boy and a stubborn man, but somehow he had managed it, he had come to understand more in the last few months than he ever thought would have been possible. He just knew that one day, this would help him, that someday in the future, he would learn and he would use his knowledge to help everyone.

He would be the change waiting to happen. He would show the world just what he could do.

'So, let's start,' Blake told him, 'we'll begin as normal.'

Xxxxx

Gogo found herself wandering through the crowds of people, hoping that she would find Hiro amongst them. She knew she could be so much faster looking around, she knew she could zip through the crowd at breakneck speed and know if he was here or not. But today, she had to be normal. She couldn't mess this up.

She needed a glimpse of his hair, a sign that he was out here working with the rest of them, but there was a sense of doubt. The guards had known Hiro quite well, the deputy commander himself was well aware of Hiro. But that raised her suspicions, if the wardens and commanders were aware of Hiro, how aware of him were they? Did they know about them, too? Were they just playing along to keep them satisfied?

Gogo didn't have the answers, and for now, she would have to play naïve and hope that they didn't have the answers. She couldn't risk playing suspicious only for it to turn out to be false, to end up with them suspecting her.

Gogo looked up and saw her friends around her. All of them looking like they would give life and limb to help these people, and Gogo knew she, too, would do so in a heartbeat if it meant ending this.

Gogo looked into the distance, and saw many other workers in the fields, none talking, all working diligently. Gogo shivered thinking about the consequences they had all experienced for slacking off in their work. The previous camp they had seen from the outside had held similar people; none seemed to hold any hope of change. Believing they had been dealt their hand, and were stuck to here forever.

'I have news from the commander,' Gogo jumped, not focusing on the surroundings behind her where Hague suddenly appeared. 'The commander has given you permission to see the prisoner 11281931. But he says that guards will be posted at all potential exits and that you may only have ten minutes with him.'

Gogo turned to Hague and smiled, this was the best news they'd had in a long time.

'Thank you, sir.' Fred answered before Hague began leading them off to Hiro, to the future.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, guys! Here's chapter 7, and I hope you all enjoy. Things are hopefully really starting to kick off in this chapter! Well, at least I think so... but realistically, I planned what was happening in this chapter to happen in like chapter 3, so you know, plans change and all that. But I hope you enjoy.**

**To Asome (Hey, there, don't give up! I'm sure you're smart enough to get in. Keep reading lots, watch documentaries, experience life. If at first you don't succeed, keep trying. One day, all the hard work will pay off!)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited, alerted and read this fic. The growing numbers of readers on this is truly amazing, and I can't thank you all enough!**

**And to Dirtkid123, thank you for being a consistent reader from the beginning, I am always grateful to see your reviews in my emails!**

**Enjoy!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 7

Wasabi followed Hague with caution, he wanted to be so happy, to be so excited to see Hiro, but something just didn't sit right with him. The deputy commander had been so adamant that they wouldn't be allowed to see him, and he doubted that Fred's name alone could give them so much power and authority in these camps. So, he had to wonder what they really wanted with them, and why they were being allowed to be so free.

Wasabi hoped that the others had noticed this, and were picking up on this. He didn't want to break any kind of cover that they had, or to raise any more suspicion than they already had. Wasabi had already began planning exactly what he wanted to say to Hiro, he had so many things to tell him, so many things to ask him. It was strange how they were all so much older than him, but Hiro was the one person that Wasabi felt he wanted to get guidance from.

Looking up at the faces around him, Wasabi shuddered to think of all that they had been through, and all that they would go through in the times coming. He couldn't stand to see the sea of defeat in front of him, and he couldn't begin to imagine the despair and defeat they all felt. He noticed the look on Hiro's face, he recognized the attitude, and hoped that the look was not a permanent fixture, that Hiro would pull through.

If not, he had no idea how he would begin to explain how much he had let Tadashi down in looking after his brother.

Xxxxx

Hiro groaned, feeling the pounding grow and grow within his head. He felt the blood dribbling from his nose and his ears and hoped with all his might that this was the end. The room had been darkened, thankfully, to dampen the headache, but Hiro knew it would do him no good.

Suddenly, a light shone in the room, and Hiro reflexively tried to reach his hand out to cover his eyes before realizing they were still tied to the chair.

'Congratulations, you have visitors, so you're session will end early today.' Blake told him as he allowed people into the room. Hiro didn't say anything, knowing from experience that these visitors could be anyone and could potentially want to do anything to him.

Blinking in an attempt to try to clear his vision to the sudden light in the room coming from the doorway, Hiro only saw shadows of people. Blake sighed as he went to the light switch.

'You have ten minutes, don't undo his restraints, he's not allowed to leave the chair,' Blake said to them, 'be warned, this one's a trouble maker.'

There was no reply as the room was illuminated and Hiro finally got a chance to see the people who had entered the room.

Hiro wanted to let his mouth drop, to let himself grin and try to reach out to them, but he knew he had a role to play and he didn't want to mess this up for them. He let his face remain slack and unresponsive as Blake left the room with the other wardens leaving Hiro with the gang alone.

'Hiro.' Honey Lemon whispered and Hiro focused on her, noticing the way she held herself. She was unsure, she didn't know what to do in this situation.

'We found you,' Fred added, a huge grin on his face. 'Dude, do you know how long we searched for you?'

'I told you guys not to look for me.' Hiro said them, 'to leave me here.'

But even though he said it, he knew with all his might that he had always wanted them to come and look for him no matter what he had said to them. And they knew that, too.

'We would never leave you here.' Wasabi reassured him, and Hiro felt a warm glow surge through him, in a way he had not felt in quite some time.

'Yeah, what did you think we would do, knucklehead?' Gogo added. 'We've not stopped looking since the day you left.'

Hiro felt a smile grow on his face.

'How's Aunt Cass?' He asked, looking around at the friends around him. The friends he hoped against all hope throughout his life that he would one day find.

'She's doing okay, given the circumstances. She wishes she could see you.' Honey Lemon told him.

Hiro cast his eyes down to his knees, he remembered the last time he had seen Aunt Cass and it had not been good. He'd naively hoped that by leaving things would be so much better for her. But over time, he'd come to grow and understand that sometimes things like this just didn't happen.

'That's good.' Hiro chocked out, feeling the pain in his back intensify with the pounding in his skull.

'How are you doing, Hiro?' Honey Lemon asked him, looking at him with worry.

'Better,' Hiro explained. 'I've learnt how to manage in this place.'

Honey Lemon cringed, she wasn't really sure what kind of answer she was looking for, but she was hoping for a better response than that. She wanted him to tell her that he was still fighting, that he was working on a way out of here. Never surrendering.

'What do you do here?' Fred asked, trying to break some of the tension mounting in the room.

'Work, usually. We have a routine that never breaks.' Hiro told him, 'it's mostly stuff in the fields in the fences. We make our own food as much as possible so we're not too much of a burden.'

'But, what's the point of it all?' Gogo asked.

'To not be seen.' Hiro told her, 'let me ask you something, had any of you heard of these places until you actually came looking?'

'No, and we had to search. The San Fransokyo Government is covering it up big time. The people of San Fransokyo think you're all being displaced and separated across the countries, or back to Japan.' Gogo explained, 'not that many of them care, of course.'

'But, there are factions, riots beginning. Not everyone agrees with what's going on.' Honey Lemon added.

'It's a bit late at this point for people to start caring about us.' Hiro replied, bitterly.

'The American government say they're trying to dispel the tension, but we've basically been cut off. They're trying not to associate with us, even though other countries are trying to get in to help. No one's accepting anything, yet.' Honey Lemon told Hiro, gaining confidence that Hiro was not going to break into tiny pieces if she looked at him for more than two minutes.

'That's not really surprising, considering everything that was happening even before I went. I mean, how long has it been now, five or six months since I left?' Hiro said exasperatedly. Honey Lemon took careful note on the wording Hiro had used, guessing that perhaps he'd not been solely on this camp for this long.

'It's been six months, nearly seven.' Wasabi told him.

'From what I can tell from being here, this kind of thing had been growing steadily for a lot longer than we think. These places don't just pop up overnight.' Hiro told them, 'but the people who work here are slightly uncooperative when it comes to telling me anything.'

'So, have you got any plans?' Wasabi asked him, trying to break the growing tension in the room.

'Plans?'

'You know, for how we're going to get you out of here?' Fred asked excitedly. 'You know, I could totes pull one over on them and get you out of here.'

'I can't leave, Fred.' Hiro told him.

'Why not?' Gogo asked quickly.

'Because, there are so many more people here than just me. If I go, they all go with me. I'm not leaving anyone else here.' Hiro told her, _I'm not letting anyone suffer the way I have. No one will go through what I have in this room._

Wasabi looked at Hiro, and saw the old flicker of determination. The look of a child who had fallen, but would pick himself back up again. The look of a man who would not back down, no matter the circumstances.

'TWO MINUTES!' Blake shouted from somewhere in the distance, and Hiro flinched. The movement didn't go unnoticed by the rest.

'Okay, hit me.' Hiro suddenly said, looking each of them in the eye.

'What? Why?' Honey Lemon asked, shocked.

'Why do you think?' Hiro asked her. 'Why do you think they let you in here?'

A moment of horror passed through the group. They couldn't just hit him.

'Guys, they're planning on coming in here, and expecting me to be a little roughed up. They're going to be suspicious if you don't.' Hiro pleaded with them. 'So, just hit me. A big one on the face, maybe another cracked rib or two. Make it look like you were doing something to me.'

'Hiro…' Wasabi began, 'you can't just expect us to do that.'

'I can, and they do. So just do it. We're running out of time.' Hiro ordered. 'Besides, I can take it. It's not like I don't have any practice.'

Wasabi sighed, looking around the group. Honey Lemon he knew wouldn't do it, Fred wouldn't either. He thought Gogo would have a go at it if she knew no one else would, but he felt that this was something that just couldn't be avoided. He knew they should have come here with a better plan, found a different way around it, but they were stuck.

'Wasabi, just, please. Do it for me.' Hiro said, looking him directly in the eye.

'Okay, but don't come crying to me when it hurts too bad.' Wasabi replied, laughing nervously as he tried to make a joke of it.

Wasabi lifted his arm, as the rest of the group moved behind him. Hiro kept his eye, and didn't back down, even as Wasabi moved his arm. The only moment they broke eye contact was when Hiro's face was jerked to the side, a new cut forming on his cheekbone.

Spitting blood, Hiro turned to look at him and gave him a grin, showing the blood stained his teeth.

'You throw a good punch, there.' Hiro told him. 'Okay, aim for my stomach this time.'

Wasabi cringed, hating the feeling of Hiro's blood on his fist, but he raised his arm one more time. One more time for their safety, for Hiro's safety. Bringing his fist down quickly, he jabbed Hiro in the stomach. He looked up, and saw Hiro reflexively trying to cover his stomach, but he couldn't, and a part of him shattered. This was what it was like to betray a friend; this was what it was like to break a promise. He looked to the ceiling of the cabin and prayed to Tadashi, he apologized, he had not done enough. But for certain things would change, he would not fail again.

'So,' Blake said barging into the room. 'How was he?'

'Completely uncooperative.' Wasabi replied, wiping Hiro's blood into his shirt. He saw Blake follow the movement and grin.

'Give him a lesson for it?' Blake laughed.

'We did,' Wasabi replied. 'But we need more time. So, I'm asking to speak to the commander for permission for us to begin work here, starting as soon as possible.'


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, guys! So, we're back for another round of The Uprising! So, this chapter has been a little difficult to write (plus, I've worked like a total of 50+ hours this week, so I'm stupidly tired!), and I think that really comes across in this chapter. We're going on an adventure to the beginning, so hopefully you all will enjoy some explanation of how all these troubles started!**

**Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/alerted/favourited this fic, it is always great seeing you all here. **

**P.S. I still find it amazing that so many people are tuning in to read this, on the 'legacy story stats' version of this, over 1,000 people have clicked on this story!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 8

Flashback – 1 year ago.

Perhaps one of the most tense elections was building in the San Fransokyo city. A game changer. All around, gossip spread, flyers flew and uncertainty grew. Some called it a revolution, others called it a disaster. But for the majority, it signaled a change.

Hiro had never really taken a keen interest in politics. If it wasn't for Tadashi and Aunt Cass' lengthy discussions, Hiro wouldn't even known who ran San Fransokyo. This year, he paid attention, it was hard not to considering everyone at SFIT was talking about it.

Everyone was discussing the upcoming election, who they thought would win, who they wanted to win. Who they thought could bring them justice, and who they thought could keep the peace. Hiro knew that he would always be on the side of the person promoting peace, but being as young as he was, he was not allowed to vote, leaving Hiro to hope against all hope that people saw sense and voted for peace. San Fransokyo could not deal with an uprising of any kind.

Being a racially diverse university, SFIT for the first time since it's inception had declared it's political beliefs in favor of the all, and not the few. SFIT as an institute would stand by all students of all nationalities, and though it tried within all of it's might, they couldn't influence every person who attended or worked there. This was where Hiro felt the pinch the most. He found that some of his non-Japanese lecturers and tutors were becoming more openly harsh towards him. He caught the glances, the whispers that followed him and his fellow Japanese men and women as they walked down the corridor, and being so much smaller and younger than them, many in particular had taken a keen interest in him. A few had taken to calling him names in lectures, mocking him for being intelligent, even to the point of following him home.

Hiro had begun to bring friends with him no matter where he went, to protect himself. He didn't know what these people wanted and he didn't want to be caught out without any kind of protection. Particularly after one time where they caught him, not long after everything had began taking a turn for the worse, and Hiro had been caught on his own when a group of men approached him from the back.

Hiro had tried his best to fight back, but between being different in size and vastly outnumbered, Hiro didn't stand a chance. He'd ended up with a broken rib, a black eye and a broken wrist. But, that wasn't the part that hurt the most. When Hiro had finally managed to get himself up and moving again, and Aunt Cass had managed to take him to the hospital, he was refused to be seen. A nurse claimed that she didn't want Hiro to be seen contaminating the hospital with his filthy blood. Luckily, Hiro had Baymax on his side to direct Aunt Cass on how to help set his wrist and advise on how to help Hiro's injuries heal, otherwise things might not have turned out better.

Hiro had remembered vividly the look of disgust on that woman's face, looking down on him as if he were nothing more than a germ that needed to be killed and dealt with. The shame and embarrassment he felt over something he could not control. In that moment, in a moment of a quiet rage Hiro had decided that he would rather be more Japanese than side with the American's violent attitude, but, after the shame had subsided and the pain medication had finally started to work, Hiro wasn't so sure of his rage. He wanted to be angry, but a part of him felt sympathetic, he was American just as much as he was Japanese, and he needed to make a stand for people to realize this.

It was after Hiro had received the third failed paper that Hiro considered leaving SFIT. He could see the malicious intent in his tutors' eyes, and he knew he hadn't failed. He checked all of his papers before handing them in, and Hiro had never been wrong about anything when it came to study work. He had began to wonder why he should have to deal with the constant threat of being thrown out of a university where he had worked so hard to get into, one where he had lost so much and gained so much.

But the more Hiro thought about it, the less he could leave. He couldn't give them the satisfaction of making it seem like he had run away. Hiro Hamada did not run away, and he would show them just that.

'I'm going to change their minds.' Hiro said suddenly as the group gathered inside Hiro's garage. They had been called out to help with what they had been told was a disturbance, when it reality it had been a case of a man getting agitated that a Japanese man had walked on the same side of the street as him, and had gone ballistic. Hiro had feared they had done more damage to their name than good. The police had taken off with the man, and Hiro hoped that nothing bad was going to happen to the Japanese man.

'Whose mind?' Fred asked, looking around as if trying to look for someone.

'The people. I'm going to get people to believe that Japanese and American people can live together.' Hiro continued, staring across the lab.

'How are you going to do that?' Wasabi asked.

'Just you wait.' Hiro replied vaguely before pulling his suit off.

The next day, during what was considered to be the unofficial lunch hour of the university, Hiro walked out to stand outside the building that had been rebuilt after Tadashi's honour and stood on a bench on what was quickly growing to be known as the debate corner.

Plugging in a microphone he had picked up on his way out, Hiro began a speech.

'Uh, hi.' Hiro began, looking around at the people who just walked straight past him. 'My name is Hiro Hamada, and I'm here to ask a question. What makes me so different to you?'

Some turned their heads to look at him, but sneered and continued to walk.

'I'm just as human as any of you.' Hiro continued, gathering more courage to carry on. 'Just because I look slightly different, just because I had different parents to you, does not make me any less than anyone.'

'Just keep telling yourself that, Jap.' One man shouted as he walked passed.

Hiro faltered, looking to the ground.

'I'm not ashamed of who I am. I am proud of everything I have been raised to believe in, and everything I have achieved.' Hiro said, 'I have fought for so long to fit in, to get everything right, and I got a place here. A place that I'm so proud to be a part of, and forever grateful for my brother Tadashi who brought me here, and showed me how fantastic it was here.'

A crowd had begun to form around Hiro, a mixed audience of intrigue and anger.

'You have no right to stand there and preach to us about being the same as us after everything you've done.' One girl shouted.

'And what have I done?' Hiro replied, looking the woman directly in the eye.

'Everything. You got here by virtue of birth, you've taken a place of a rightful American and pressurized our society into believing you to be the top race.' The girl replied, to shouts to agreement from the crowd.

'I did not get here by virtue of birth; I had to fight for a place just like the rest of you did. And I personally, have not pressurized anyone, nor would I ever want to.' Hiro said to her, noticing the crowd of Japanese onlookers slowly backing away.

'Why should we be the ones to have to be pressurized into leaving, or being the "weaker race" as you would like to put it? Aren't you doing to us what you claim we did to you?' Hiro questioned, but received no response. He hoped that he was at least getting through to someone in the crowd, but by the angry faces, and the ones slowly backing away from him, he guessed not.

Hiro began to notice the presence of the police approaching the area, and looking around he noticed the nervous face of Honey Lemon in the distance. He caught her eye and noticed that she looked uncertain; she did not know whether to intervene or to leave it. Shaking his head at her, he tried to tell her not to do anything and to not get herself in trouble. Hiro anticipated that something like this would happen, and was prepared to accept the consequences.

'I'm just posing the question; what makes us less than you? What makes us so different other than our appearances?' Hiro finished, looking at the crowd and the two police officers approaching closer and closer.

'Stop!' One of the shouted, beginning to quicken his pace. 'Don't move!'

'In case you hadn't noticed, dude. I've not moved a muscle.' Hiro told him. 'Well, guys, I guess that brings the debate to an end. It was lovely hearing from you, and I hope we'll speak again soon.'

'I don't think so.' One officer told him, now standing close enough to grab Hiro's arm. 'Maybe we should go and have a little chat somewhere?'


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, guys! Here's chapter 9! We're back with a continued flash back, so hopefully you all enjoy. Don't worry, we will be back with the main and current story timeline soon, I just felt that the first 'act' as you would put it was over and we needed to go back and explain some of the things that happened to get into the current situation. So, I hope you all enjoy!**

**As a side note, I did kind of rush to write like the last 800 words of this chapter, so please excuse some of the crap and really rushed feeling to some of it, I've had a particularly hard week this week, and I thought I would finish work earlier yesterday to get some writing done last night, but I didn't finish work until 2 this morning, so I didn't do anything... But here we are, and enough of my excuses!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/alerted/read. You are all amazing and great people!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 9

'What could you possibly want to talk to me about?' Hiro asked the officer standing next to him.

'That's something we'll discuss when you come with us.' The officer replied, 'now, move it.'

'Sure, sure.' Hiro answered, 'but just letting you know, I've done nothing wrong, so there's not much to talk about.'

Hiro felt the officer grab his arm and begin to drag him towards the police car sitting on the road by the hall. Hiro decided it would be better not to struggle, he didn't want to make it seem like he was being defensive. Hiro figured it would look better on him and worse on them if they caused him any harm.

'Hiro!' He heard Honey Lemon call, and froze. He couldn't let her be involved in this.

'Don't worry, miss. We're just going to ask him a couple of questions, nothing bad will happen to him.' The officer replied, gripping Hiro's arm tighter.

'Yeah, it's cool. Nothing I can't handle.' Hiro explained to Honey Lemon, hoping she would get the message and stay out of it before she, too, got in trouble.

'If you're so sure,' Honey Lemon said to him uncertainly.

'Totally and utterly positive. I'll catch you later, I'll be home soon.' Hiro told her, and Hiro was sure of this. They had nothing on him, he hadn't done anything wrong, all he had done was voice an opinion, and he was certain that they couldn't do anything to him about that.

Xxxxx

Hiro sat in the car patiently as the two officers seemingly took an age to reach the station. Certain that they had deliberately taken a few wrong turns, Hiro let out a sigh, hoping to catch their attention. But when none of them turned around to acknowledge him, Hiro began to tap his fingers on the seat whilst staring at the back of one of the officers, hoping that it might suddenly burst into flame.

Hiro's mind then went into overdrive as he tried to figure out how he could somehow invent something like that, and the statistics of how he could pull it off.

Without realizing it, Hiro had zoned out figuring out the possibility of his mind controlled human incinerator. He was completely oblivious to his surroundings until he felt his arm being grabbed, and his body being dragged out of the car. They were finally at the police station.

'Come on,' the officer said, shoving Hiro towards the station.

'I'm moving, I'm moving.' Hiro answered walking towards the glass doors of the station.

The first thing Hiro noticed upon entering the station was the abnormal amounts of people sitting in the waiting area. Mostly split into two areas, one for the non-Japanese, and the other half for the Japanese and all of them turning in unison to look at Hiro as he was dragged through the reception.

Looking up to the desk, Hiro noticed Sergeant Gerson sitting at his desk, watching him with a sad smile as Hiro was paraded through the reception towards one of the back rooms. Hiro had never personally been this far into the police station, and only ever had heard rumours about the back of the police station. Many claimed it to be a place of horror, and a place they would never like to be back at again. In recent times, the rumours had spread to claim that those who went to the back of the police station never returned, particularly if one was of Japanese descent.

Hiro gulped, and kept his head down, he didn't want to see all the faces as they watched him walk to his doom, and he did not want to see the looks on the faces of the people behind the bars in the back of the station. It felt almost as if he was being lead to his demise, and a strange feeling that he might not be returning from this hallway the same.

The officers led him down to a room at the end of the hallway, and opened the door.

'Get in,' One of the officers ordered.

Hiro did not answer, and looked uncertainly at the chairs placed around a table situated directly in the centre of the room. The room was bright, decorated in white with blue plastic chairs and a blue table. A sterile and clean smell emanated from the room, and Hiro breathed it in and wondered what kind of person had last been in this room. Had it been a killer? Someone like him? A thief? Hiro didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know from the smell. He couldn't tell whether it was his mind going into overdrive, but he could imagine the last person who was in this room being sent away to a place no one knew of, or killed in this room. It was almost as if Hiro could smell and feel the fear in the air.

'Sit in that chair.' The other officer ordered, pointing at the chair directly in front of Hiro as the officers took the chairs opposite.

'So, I'm Officer George, and this is Officer Hadley.' The officer who had grabbed Hiro's arm explained. Hiro took this time to look at the officers. George, who had introduced himself seemed middle-aged, sporting a few wrinkles and a moustache with a few scraggly grey hairs and short brown hair, whilst Hadley was lean and younger, potentially not that much older than Tadashi, but with blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.

'Okay, but why did I need to come all the way down here?' Hiro asked tentatively, suddenly feeling nervous under their intense stares.

'Hiro Hamada, you have been brought down to the station today to deal with the fact that we received a few distressed calls.' George explained to him.

'Distressed? What would anyone be distressed about?' Hiro bit back.

'We received distressed calls,' George continued, 'about a young man who was campaigning at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.'

'The caller described a young man trying to instigate racial hatred, and an attempt to begin a civil war.' Hadley commented.

'But, that's not even what I was trying to do!' Hiro argued, shocked that someone would have thought that.

'You were campaigning, though, weren't you?' George added snidely. 'We were there to witness quite a lot of it.'

'So, why didn't you stop it earlier?' Hiro shouted, 'were you just waiting there to see if I would place a foot out of step? Waiting to gather some kind of evidence?'

'That is not the case. We had to observe to see if you would be hostile.' Hadley replied.

'Hostile? I wasn't trying to be hostile.' Hiro said to them.

'We would be inclined to disagree there.' George added.

'By doing what?' Hiro asked. 'I was trying to get people to understand things from my perspective. Things need to change.'

'By inciting a rebellion? By causing distress?' George asked mockingly.

'But that's not what I was doing!' Hiro argued.

'Arguing with us is only going to make your case all that much worse, kid.' Hadley answered.

'Do you know what they do with people like you?' George asked. 'Do you know where people like you end up?'

'And when our new mayor is elected, let me tell you something.' Hadley threatened. 'It's only going to get more fun. I'd watch my back if I was you. The less of a commotion you make, the less you get noticed.'

'And you think that's just going to make me sit back and accept whatever you throw at me?' Hiro argued even though he could feel the cold shivers starting to spread throughout his body and the thoughts of what they would actually do to him were starting to spread through his head, freezing the blood in his veins.

'Trust me, this is only just the beginning.' Hadley told him.

'Now, we can let you off with a kind warning to watch your back and to never darken our doorstep again, or we can take you to one of these special places?'

'Personally, I'd much rather stay where I am so that I can keep an eye on what's going on.' Hiro answered as nonchalantly as he could, 'but, don't underestimate me. I can be just as bad as the rest of you.'

Hiro stood up from the chair, and opened the door to the room. Today, he would leave. Today he would have his freedom, and he would cling to it, but he would not take it sitting down. He would fight to continue the freedom of all those like him. He would try his hardest to stop whatever plans that were going on, and he knew deep down that this would perhaps be one of the hardest things he would have ever done.

Xxxxx

When Hiro arrived back at the café it was dark and it was raining. The officers had demanded that they take his name and address for 'the record' as they put it, but Hiro was more sure that it was for some kind of hit list of who to get rid of first, but they were the police and Hiro felt that he couldn't really refuse.

'Hiro!' Aunt Cass shouted as he walked to the top of the stairs, 'what happened? I was so worried!'

'It was nothing, Aunt Cass. It's fine, now.' Hiro told her. Hiro didn't particularly want her to know anything; he didn't see the point, as she wasn't the one under any kind of threat at the moment.

'Honey Lemon called around. She said something about you being taken to the police station?' Aunt Cass told him, and Hiro felt the need to drop to the floor and cry out begin to grow. This was not what he wanted.

'It was nothing, it's all been sorted.' Hiro repeated, he couldn't tell her anymore.

'Honey Lemon seemed really worried, she said you were called in for making a speech.' Cass said, 'Hiro, you know you should be more careful considering everything that's going on at the moment. You know you need to lay low.'

'I know, and in future I'll keep low.' Hiro reassured her.

Cass looked at him worriedly for a few moments, but there must have been something in his eyes that she deemed she didn't want to ask, not tonight. It would have to wait, for now.

'Just don't forget, I'll be gone early tomorrow. It's voting day.' Cass told him, and Hiro wished with all his might that tomorrow were a day he could prevent.

Tomorrow would be a day that would change his life forever.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, guys! Another week gone by, and another chapter to upload! This is the last flashback chapter for now, so, I hope you've all enjoyed what's happened so far. I do still have some background stuff to go through, but that'll come as the time goes by!**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/alerted/read this fic. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, can you believe it's chapter 10 already?**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 10

The election day had arrived and Hiro could feel nothing but anxiety. He had already spoken to Honey Lemon, Fred, Gogo and Wasabi, all of whom had told him at length that they would always stand by his side no matter what. And Hiro believed them; San Fransokyo needed the Big Hero 6 to set an example now more than ever before. Hiro looked up and stared at the television screen that could bring him some of the worst news for him and the Japanese people of San Fransokyo.

_'We're getting reports that this has been the most successful election in many years. Polling booths, which have been open since 7am this morning have seen substantial queues all over San Fransokyo in what has been described as one of the biggest game changing elections in quite some time.'_ Hiro heard the reporter comment on the television. Anxiety swirled through Hiro's system at the mere prospect of what could happen in the coming weeks following this election. Things were definitely going to change in San Fransokyo.

In the following hours, rumours came and went through the café. Hiro sat in the back with the gang, listening and pretending that he wasn't there. He didn't want to be seen, he didn't want to trigger any unnecessary issues on such a tense day. Hiro thought back to Tadashi, and once again, couldn't help but wonder what Tadashi would have done on this day. Would he have carried on as normal? Would he have gone back to SFIT to carry on his studies for the day? Or would he have stayed at the café like Hiro had done?

For all his false bravado about being an ex-bot fighter, Hiro was scared. At least with bot fighting and being part of the Big Hero 6 there was a certain knowledge that came with the territory. He knew where he was, he knew how to handle these people. He knew that beating them at their own game and outwitting them usually provided the end of that issue, but he could not understand how he would be able to change months and years worth of ingrained thoughts.

The polls didn't officially close till 10pm, but Hiro already knew what the outcome would be, he could guess it from the attitude of most of the people who had come into the café, and he knew from the run up to the election that he knew the one man who had been all any one could talk about. Hiro had heard many Japanese talking about the vote, many of them afraid of what would happen, some even too afraid to turn up to the polling stations because of threats by other people.

Hiro himself had also been threatened not to show at the polls, they had told him that he would regret it, and so would Aunt Cass. Hiro had tried to warn Aunt Cass after the incident, but she would not listen to him, saying that she would not be scared off by racists who wanted nothing more than to control other people purely for being different to them.

At least Hiro could go to bed tonight knowing quite happily that Aunt Cass had voted to keep him free.

Xxxxx

Hiro woke the next morning with a drowning sense of dread. Everything in his body told him that today was a day that he could not face. Turning his bed, Hiro turned to look at Tadashi's side of the room. Everything was still in pristine order, not a speck of dust had surfaced on this side of the room. Hiro made sure that Tadashi's room remain exactly the same way as he left it, never dirty, never dusty, with everything in its proper place. It was the potentially the only place in the entire world that Hiro cleaned and kept the way it should be. Hiro couldn't risk anything of Tadashi's going missing.

Looking at Tadashi's cap on the bed, Hiro stared at it hard and wondered about Tadashi, wondering how he was doing wherever he was. If Tadashi was thinking about what was going on, and what he was doing. Hiro wondered if Tadashi was looking down at him, and trying his hardest to make sure everything would be all right. That Hiro would not ever have to get up and face this day.

Walking down the stairs Hiro heard the stillness in the air, no sound, no movement. Hiro didn't know how to interpret this, but the anxiety and foreboding rose in his body, his blood pumping faster and faster through his veins. Hiro felt feint, but he didn't know how to handle it.

With each shaky step further down the stairs, Hiro felt his head become lighter and lighter. With each footfall he felt the cold stairs on the stairs, he felt the adrenalin rush, he felt the cold of the house.

At the bottom of the stairs, he turned to the living room, where he saw Cass sitting on the sofa, her mandatory morning black coffee in her hand forgotten. Then, all of a sudden, sounds rushed back to Hiro in an explosive mess, he could hear Cass' short breaths with super hearing, hearing each inhale and exhale, he heard the static of the television vibrating through his skin.

Hiro almost felt as if he couldn't bear to look at the screen, but a stupid sense of bravery forced him to look. He almost wished he hadn't.

_ 'The new rules, as set out by our new Mayor John Norman: House arrest for all Japanese after 8pm, any Japanese seen out after curfew will be punished. Japanese are no longer permitted to walk in groups, and must be accompanied by a person of non-Japanese descent at all times. Any attempt to break this law will be dealt with severely…'_

Hiro listened to the list with growing horror and a growing sense of horror. He knew things were going to be bad, but he could not imagine them to be this harsh. At this moment, Hiro began to question why he had to be punished and be born Japanese, but he could not control it, just as much as they couldn't control what ethnicity they were.

_'No Japanese are permitted to own any kind of business, all current shop owners will have to sell their assets and donate the money to the San Fransokyo bank. This will be used to help balance our economy, and provide a better experience and better funding for non-Japanese businesses.'_

Hiro looked up to Aunt Cass who was watching the news report with rapt attention.

'What's going to happen to the café?' Hiro asked her, worriedly.

'Nothing, sweetie.' Cass told him distantly.

'You can't lose your shop because of me.' Hiro told her, he wasn't going to ruin this for her, too.

'Honey, it'll be fine. The shop is owned by me, not you. They can't do anything about it.' Hiro understood that she was only trying to be helpful to him, but at the same time, he also felt slightly hurt. He knew that this was going to end badly for Cass because people knew he lived her, and people knew that Cass' sister had married into a Japanese family. But, Hiro was sure that Cass was aware of this just as much as he was.

The list continued for some time, a whole new regime for Japanese families, all of which spelling the demise of the Japanese tradition, and included the destruction of many Japanese heritage buildings and places dotted throughout San Fransokyo.

_'And, finally, Mayor John Norman has decreed that no person of Japanese descent will be permitted to attend any Higher Education Institution throughout San Fransokyo. No matter what their thoughts on the subject may be.'_

Hiro looked to Aunt Cass sitting on the sofa in front of him, and realised that this was going to be the end of it all for him. Hiro guessed Tadashi hadn't really been trying his hardest after all.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, again! Welcome to chapter 11! We're back in the present day now, so the last flashback sequence is over. We will cover more flashback stuff though, so don't panic :)**

**Last week's chapter got quite a lot of reviews for me. So, Im glad people seem to be enjoying it! I did get one review asking for like Authors Notes, and I'm assuming you meant these little things I put on the top of my chapters. I'll just put it out there that I'm not really the most talkative of people, and I'm actually pretty boring as a person! I work 50+ hours a week, and whenever I'm not working, I'm usually sleeping or writing. Or reading, it goes either way really... Though, this week, I did meet up with a couple of friends for drinks last night, and boy am I paying for it today. Don't drink, people, it just makes you feel horrible the next day :P**

**Anyway, thanks for the continued support, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 11

'We did,' Wasabi replied. 'But we need more time. So, I'm asking to speak to the commander for permission for us to begin work here, starting as soon as possible.'

'Work here?' Blake asked slowly, looking at the team surrounding Hiro.

'Yes, we find that this particular camp site could potentially offer us in the way of training, and would love to work here.' Wasabi replied. 'You know, to expand our horizons.'

'Yeah, I'm sure you need all the help you can get to keep this group of, uh, animals, in line.' Honey Lemon added, faltering slightly.

'I'd have to arrange for you to meet the commander.' Blake told them suspiciously. 'But, unfortunately the commander isn't in today, he's out on a business trip. You'd have to come back next week when he returns.' Blake informed them.

'That's great. I'll give you my cell number, and you can give us a ring when he's back around so that we can meet him?' Wasabi asked, eagerly.

'Yeah, sure,' Blake answered slowly, 'I'll make sure the commander gets back to you as soon as possible.'

Hiro stared at the friends standing in front of him in shock, this was the worst thing that ever could have happened. There was no way that he could allow them to work here, there was no way that they could find out what was really going on here. Hiro would not allow them to be put in danger. This was different to the fights they'd have as part of Big Hero 6, and he wouldn't endanger them.

Hiro looked at them helplessly, suddenly realizing that there was no way that he could stop them now. The idea was put out there, and he couldn't say anything in front of Blake. If he'd been allowed to be put in front of a computer, or any kind of electronics then he could have sent them a message. But he had nothing, the camp officers knew of his history, they knew he was good with computers and wouldn't even let him within any kind of distance of any technology. It was futile, and Hiro decided that the only way he could really help them now was to protect them as much as he could from his position within the camp.

He would do whatever it took to keep them safe, be it life or death.

Xxxxx

Outside the prison camp, all seemed to appear normal to the group as they left the cabin. Blake was leading them towards the exits where they would leave back for San Fransokyo to plan what needed to be done.

'Well, I hope you had a good time, and that we'll see you again soon.' Blake told them as he accepted a piece of paper with Wasabi's phone number on it.

'Yeah, just let us know when the commander comes back, and we'll be here as soon as possible.' Wasabi told him.

'Yeah, it'll be awesome to work here.' Fred added excitedly.

'It'll be great to have you here.' Blake told them slowly, taking steps towards the group. 'Just… remember, you cannot talk to anyone outside about these camps. I don't know who told you about them, but they are a secret, and you must never tell anyone of what you saw here today.'

'No, sir. We wouldn't dream of telling anyone what's going on here.' Honey Lemon told him hurriedly.

'Good, then keep it quiet.' Blake told them and walked off.

'Guys, this is not going to be good.' Gogo started, walking through the gate towards where the car was parked.

'You're telling me.' Wasabi added, unlocking the car door. 'Let's just get home, and try to figure out what it is we're doing exactly.'

'I hear ya, man. I've never seen anything like that before.' Fred replied, getting into the passenger seat after Honey Lemon and Gogo got in the back seats. 'Let's just get home.'

Wasabi looked at the wire fences of the campsite, he saw the men working in the field, and hoped that he would be able to catch Hiro being sent back out to work from the cabin he was being held in.

'What exactly do you think they were doing with Hiro before we got to him?' Wasabi asked quietly before driving off away from the campsite.

'I don't know,' Gogo answered him, 'but Hiro seemed to take it in stride, like it didn't really phase him what was happening. So, it must be something regular.'

'But what exactly are they doing to him in there?' Honey Lemon asked. 'He was tied to the chair, and there was a lot of blood.'

'Maybe they're trying to get him to do something?' Fred answered, 'you know, like, top secret hacking. They must know how scary good he is with a computer.'

'Yeah, it didn't much look like that to me, Fred.' Gogo replied bluntly.

'Let's just not talk about it for now. Let's just get back to Cass and tell her we found Hiro.' Honey Lemon told them, and sat back on the chair. She felt nervous, she knew that there was something going on in that room with Hiro. There was a smell in the air, a chemical smell that she couldn't quite put her finger on, but something about the whole situation screamed bad, and she knew no matter what the circumstances, Hiro needed to leave as soon as possible.

Xxxxx

Cass was sitting in her living room, staring at a blank television screen, not knowing what to do with herself. It was one of those quiet moments where the café was quiet, not that it had been particularly busy over the last couple of months, but it was a moment she could leave her staff handle everything.

Cass was struggling, she was anxious, she was uncertain. Cass had never before found herself in a situation where she didn't know what to do, Hiro had been gone for quite a long time, and she didn't know what to do. Every maternal instinct that she had gained through the years that Hiro had been with her was screaming at her that she needed to do something, that Hiro was in pain and needed her.

Cass had learned to protect and become a mother to Hiro. She always knew what to do with him, despite what Hiro thought. It wasn't an instinct that she had exactly picked up on the first day, it was an instinct that she had gained over the years through the help of the people around her, and from Tadashi. Tadashi had been the one to tell her about all of Hiro's peculiarities, the one who had warned her about the eating habits, the one who told her all about Hiro's fears.

Over the years, Cass had come to acknowledge Hiro's fears, but she had also watched him grow, she had seen him overcome so many different fears and gain new ones. She had watched him rise, only to see him fall. But Cass was certain she would watch him grow once more. There was no way that this would beat him, Cass instinctively knew that this was something that Hiro would overcome and would fix. But, she didn't want to see the consequences, she just needed to know that he was okay now. She needed him home so that she could watch him rise once more.

A knock came suddenly from behind her, and Cass jumped up prepared to fight off any intruders that had snuck into her home, only to turn around and have Hiro's friends standing behind her.

'Sorry, Aunt Cass, we did try calling, but you were in a world of your own.' Honey Lemon apologized sheepishly.

'That's fine, I'm just a little on guard recently. You've got to be.' Cass replied, looking at each one of them and noticing the looks on their faces. 'What's happened? Is everything alright?'

Each member of the group looked pale and shaken. All of them didn't seem to know what was happening, or how to handle all the emotions that they were feeling.

'Answer me!' Cass demanded, feeling her anxieties rise. She needed someone to tell her what was happening, to reassure her that everything was all right. 'Is it Hiro? What's happened to him?'

'It is Hiro.' Wasabi started. 'We've found him.'

Cass stood there stupefied. It was taking too long for the news to process, and it felt as though every function in her body had come to a complete stop.

'Found him? Where is he? Why isn't he here now?' Cass began, not knowing where to start with her questions.

'He's at a camp. We didn't really get to talk to him for long. But, he says he's fine. He wouldn't come back with us though.' Honey Lemon answered, she didn't want to give Cass all of the details, she didn't want to panic her.

'He says he's fine? What does that mean?'

'It means we're working on saving him, it's just going to take a bit longer than planned.' Gogo told her.

'How so? Why won't he come?'

'He wouldn't come because he wouldn't leave anyone behind. He said if he left, everyone left with him.' Gogo answered. 'But, we're working our way around that. We'll be seeing more of Hiro soon.'

Xxxxx

Hiro watched as Blake came back into the room after having shown the gang out. He didn't know what was going on, and he certainly didn't like the smirk Blake gave him as he walked back into the room.

'Some nice friends you have there.' Blake said to him. Hiro panicked, Blake couldn't have known that, he couldn't have figured it out so quickly; he'd hardly been with his friends. Taking a deep breath, Hiro decided that it was better to play it like it was the first he'd heard of it.

'Friends? They aren't my friends.' Hiro told Blake.

'I know more about you, Hiro, than you would like me to know. Let's just put it this way. I would rather have them here, I can keep a closer eye on you all then.' Blake told him, circling around Hiro's chair. 'That way, we can keep a nice close eye on the Big Hero 6, don't you think?'


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, guys! Welcome back to chapter 12. This chapter is a little less climactic than the last, but hopefully you'll enjoy it, too. It's more of a preparation for the next chapters to come then anything. **

**Also, Holy Cow! I got so many reviews for the last chapter! It was so unexpected! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I was so shocked! **

**To Guest: Thanks for your review! And for your book recommendation! A couple of chapters ago, someone mentioned that this kind of reminded them of Nazi Germany, and since then I've read a book called Man's Search for Meaning by Victor E Frankl, which is a psychological view of the prisoners at Auschwitz and the concentration camps from a prisoners perspective. That was really interesting, but I'll take a look into your recommendation, too :)**

**Anyway, onto the chapter! Thanks again for everyone who read/reviewed/alerted/favourited this fic, I'm currently feel so happy (and maybe slightly egotistical (don't judge :P)), I mean I never expected something like this to happen! You're all such amazingly wonderful people!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 12

'Big Hero 6? What do you mean Big Hero 6?' Hiro questioned Blake nervously, looking anywhere but at Blake's face.

'Oh, but Hiro, you didn't think we'd not look into your background before you came here, did you?' Blake asked. 'We know everything there is to know about you. I mean, you did have such a wonderful time at the other camp, don't you think?'

'Don't talk to me about the other camp.' Hiro said to him in a threatening tone.

'Oh, but you had so much going for you there. You know we had so much fun together there.' Blake smiled, he stopped to stand in front of Hiro and crossed his arms. 'Now, Hiro, don't play stupid with me. We know who you are, and you know what you can do. So, lets make a deal.'

Xxxxx

Wasabi sat down in the café with Honey Lemon, Fred and Gogo watching each of them nervously. It had only been a day since they had been to see Hiro, but each of them had been desperate to go back to him. They could feel the itch, the need to know how he was doing. To see if he was all right.

Wasabi looked up and saw Cass glancing up at them every couple of moments, and he knew that this was probably hard for her, too. She now had confirmation that Hiro was still alive, and that there was a chance for him to come home. He imagined it must have been so much harder for her because she hadn't seen him. She only had their vague descriptions to go on to describe the kind of situation Hiro was in now, and not even they knew the true extent of what was happening with Hiro currently. There were too many ifs and buts for Wasabi to really understand.

'What we really need to discuss is after we get to Hiro, and managed to get him and everyone out, what do we do with them?' Wasabi asked the group, trying to keep his voice low as to not be overheard.

'They can't stay here, they'll just be recaptured.' Gogo said.

'Cass isn't going to be impressed with that.' Honey Lemon told Gogo, looking up to Cass as she glanced at them one more time.

'We'll have to take them to somewhere outside of San Fransokyo that'll be able to help us. There must be a place where all the Japanese people have escaped to when the detention orders came through.' Wasabi thought.

'We know they didn't get them all, it was like they got Hiro, then suddenly the detention order came through and we weren't allowed to follow him anymore.' Honey Lemon added.

'It's almost as if they knew we would come looking for him.' Wasabi joked lightly.

'Well, they'd been trying to get Hiro for weeks. The amount of times we had to pick him up from the police station without letting Cass know about it.' Gogo sighed.

'So, what do we do with them once we get them out?' Fred echoed Wasabi's earlier question.

'We'll need to find them a safe house, a hospital outside this city that will see them, on mass.' Wasabi said. 'They don't have any rights here, but they'll have protection outside the city.'

'We'll just have to find a place willing to try and help us.' Honey Lemon said.

'I'm not sure it'll be all that hard.' Gogo told them. 'So, I've been keeping up with all the lessons Hiro had been giving me about hacking from before he was taken.'

'Yeah, just before he started getting paranoid about things.' Fred said.

'Yeah, before he proved us all wrong, again.' Gogo answered, bluntly. 'So, I've been putting some of those teachings in practice, and the amount of stuff going on outside of here that we don't know about is unreal.'

'What do you mean?' Honey Lemon asked.

'No where is happy with what's going on here, but no one knows how to cope with it.' Gogo said, 'the mayor has threatened to use these bombs and kill all the Japanese people he has held in detention centers if someone even thinks about doing anything. He literally has all these people hostage, and we aren't even allowed to see any of it.

'But, the one thing I seem to be getting more and more of on the feeds is people planning, places being built. The escaped Japanese are out there, and they will be helping to find an end to this. We just need to find them, and to find someone willing to help. We will have people behind our backs on this one, we just need to find someone who won't double cross us. We help one camp revolt, and the rest will follow.'

Xxxxx

Hiro stood in lines with the rest of his prisoners and stared directly ahead of him. His back still stinging from yesterday, and his head pounding. He was also nervous, Blake knew about his friends, and his friends were eventually going to end up in the camp with him. They would think they were using the system to free him, but the system was actually going to be using them to keep them here.

Hiro had to figure out a way to let them know that they were in danger here, that they shouldn't ever come back and to just leave him here. He would be fine, he couldn't risk their safety either.

'So,' Blake started, walking the length of the line looking each prisoner in the eye. 'A point was raised to us yesterday by our lovely visitors.'

Hiro cringed, he didn't want any of this to be happening. He was doing just fine on his own. Hiro wanted to look down the line of people, he wanted to know what their reactions were, but he couldn't look away. He had to keep his eyes to the front, he couldn't want to know what was going on with the rest of the people here. He needed to remain calm, surely Blake couldn't do too much more to them. At least, he couldn't do anything more to them, Hiro was free ground by the looks of it.

'The visitors said you all looked too well fed.' Blake stopped in front of Hiro. 'They said we needed to cut back on the amount of food you all got here. Prisoner 11281931, how much food a day did you get in the other camp?'

Hiro cringed, he didn't particularly want to relive the experiences of the last camp. 'We had one meal a day.' Hiro answered him, but he didn't want to say anything more. He couldn't say anymore. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened at the other camp.

'And how much food, prisoner 11281931?' Blake asked, he was taunting Hiro. Blake knew exactly how much food a day the other camp got. He was the one who dealt out the rules there, too.

'We had one meal that consisted of bread and a banana.' Hiro answered slowly, not looking Blake in the face. He didn't want to be the one to bring this new rule in. He didn't want to be the one who brought Blake's rules to this camp under the impression that they were rules that his friends were setting out.

'Correct!' Blake shouted ecstatically. 'And from now on, that's all the food you'll be getting, too.'

Xxxxx

'What we really need is two of us in the camp with Hiro, and two of us scouting for places to take all these prisoners.' Honey Lemon said, looking around the café that was finally beginning to empty out. They had needed to stop their conversation suddenly because a group of police officers had walked into the café. This had become a regular occurrence after Hiro had been taken, it was almost as if they were here more to check on Cass than they were to get her food.

'Yes, but we've all said that we're interested now, and if two of us suddenly drops out their going to become suspicious.' Wasabi said to her.

'We didn't really think this one through, did we?' Gogo added.

'We didn't. But we can make it work. I mean, how hard could it be?' Fred laughed, 'we'll have Hiro then, too. He'll know exactly what to do.'

'We can't just rely on Hiro. He's going to be pretty messed up.' Honey Lemon said. 'We didn't really get to see him much, and we can't know for certain how badly he's been treated.'

'And we can't know for certain how accustomed they've all become to this life. They've all lost everything, and we don't know what they will be like when they leave, or even if they'll want to leave at all.' Gogo added.

'We'll also need more people than just us,' Wasabi added, 'and we can't really do anything at first. We need to gain their trust.'

'As painful as it's going to be, we're literally going to have to do anything they tell us to do.' Gogo said, looking at every member of the group hoping they all knew for certain what kind of trouble they would be getting themselves in. 'And if we mess it up just slightly, then we'll be considered traitors and we'll have to leave.'

'Sounds great. Where do we start?' Fred asked excitedly.

'We don't start. We wait.' Wasabi told him, and looked over to Cass who was finishing up with closing the café. For now they would wait, for now they wouldn't tell Cass a thing.

Xxxxx

'Get ready, Hiro.' Blake whispered in his ear as he looked down the line at the prisoners. 'I'll make you wish you'd never refused me.'


	13. Chapter 13

**Welcome back to chapter 13! I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to this chapter. I did mention this to Dirtkid123 in a review reply that I say like every chapter that things are going to get interesting, then the chapter is actually just full of people talking about what they want to do, but this is honest to God, the last chapter of our group of friends discussing what they should be doing and actually moving forward with things... All the seeds have now been planted, ideas have started to take place, it's now just putting everything into action. So, I hope you'll stick through this chapter and see how things go for the next lot!**

**Moving on to the publication of next chapter. Sundays have become like my 'posting day', it's my one day off in the week, so it's the one day where I actually have more time to write. But, starting next Sunday I'm on holiday. I'm going to Tokyo for a week and a half, so I am going to try and get the next chapter out by Saturday instead, but if no one hears anything by Saturday evening, then assume I did not have time to write anything of substantial value, and I'll be back to normal updates on the 9th of August. (PS I know that's a long sentence, and very poor grammatically. It's like 10.39pm now...)**

**It is kind of a long time away, and I kind of don't want to make you guys wait, so I'll try my very hardest to get the next chapter up before I go, but I'm working like 50 hours this week, so I'm not sure how well that'll go.**

**Anyway, enough with my excuses. Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/favourited/alerted this fic! It means so much that people are sticking around, or even taking a chance on this fic!**

Chapter 13

It had been a week since they had seen Hiro and they still had not heard anything from the camp. Wasabi was beginning to get a little worried that something had happened, and they had been caught.

The gang found themselves sitting in the courtyard of SFIT, a place that had almost become deserted over the last couple of months. SFIT's stance to protect all kinds of people had been both good and bad, it had meant that it had been targeting profusely by the Mayor, having its funding cut down to nearly nothing meant it could no longer function as it once had. Tuition fees had risen meaning many students could no longer afford to attend. But the thing that had harmed it in the worst way was its attempt to relocate many Japanese Americans after the detention orders had come through.

'Maybe we should talk to the head?' Gogo volunteered, looking at the grassy courtyard. 'He seemed all for helping when it actually mattered, so maybe he'd be willing to help bring it all to an end?'

'Maybe he knows where we can send all the Japanese, too?' Honey Lemon added, her brain screaming through the possibilities of what could happen if it all went to plan.

'He must have sent them somewhere.' Fred said, looking at his friends with hope in his eyes. He might not have been the smartest of the group, but he knew what he wanted, and he wanted to do it soon. Fred wasn't really the type to sit around and wait for things to happen. His father had always taught him that if he wanted something, he would have to go out and get it himself, no matter what.

'What about your father, Fred?' Wasabi asked.

'What about my father?' Fred asked suspiciously. Fred had never actually told his friends anything about his father. No matter how excited he was to learn what his father truly did, it wasn't his place to ever say anything. Just as the Big Hero 6 had worked hard to keep their secrets, his father had worked hard to keep his, and Fred wasn't going to be the one to betray his fathers trust.

'Well, he obviously has a lot of money and power over San Fransokyo, could he help us out with getting all these Japanese rehomed?' Wasabi asked cautiously.

'I could ask him,' Fred replied slowly, thinking of the number of ways he could bring this up to his father. 'He's not really in the country at the mo, but I'll find a way to ask him.'

'Great, so how do we get to see the head of SFIT?' Wasabi asked only to receive silence in response.

Xxxxx

Hiro stood in the early morning line that was becoming more and more frequent as the days went along. Hiro wasn't sure how long it had been since they had been to see him, but he knew that things were getting worse on camp. The prisoners were getting more and more agitated and had begun to turn against each other.

To Hiro, it felt almost as if Blake's intention was to turn the prisoners against each other, and Hiro was certain he would do it to bring it to the attention of the Mayor. He would want things to seem as bad as possible, that they were a group of people that were uncontrollable. He would want to eradicate them as soon as possible.

The lines early in the morning were now for inspection. The guards would decide how fit you were for work, and what work you would be doing. Those unfit for work would find themselves doing twice as much as normal, so all efforts were made to make sure you appeared fit for work.

Hiro wondered if Blake was going to keep up with his promise and bring his friends in. Blake hadn't mentioned any of it since that day, and he knew the commander had returned, Hiro had met him personally only yesterday. Of course, the commander knew all about his "bad behavior", and personally ordered Blake to keep his closest eye on Hiro. Not that Blake had needed any more encouragement, but still, Hiro worried what was going to happen.

Blake slowly made his way up Hiro's line, and inspected them all with a brief glance. But, with only a brief glance, Blake could tell everything, he could tell if you were favoring one side of your body, if you were hunching over due to stomach pains or back pains. He could tell what your problem was without even asking you. Hiro always tried his best to make it seem like nothing was wrong even though it felt like every bone and every nerve in his body was in pain, but Blake always seemed to pick him out. Hiro had refused to play along with his game, and now he was the one paying the price for it.

Xxxxx

Wasabi had moved back to his bench in the lab, looking absently at one of his newest projects. He'd hoped it would help with the Big Hero 6 at first, but since Hiro had been taken, and San Fransokyo had become suspicious of them, they hadn't really had many outings. They'd been out occasionally, more to show people that they still existed than to really help. Many people had noticed the lack of Baymax and Hiro.

No one had really activated Baymax since Hiro had been taken, and even though Baymax was a robot, no one wanted to explain to him what had happened. They all thought of him as too human to want to make him suffer. But Wasabi had been thinking, and he had realized sooner or later, they were going to need Baymax. Baymax was built to be a healthcare companion, and they all knew they would need him as soon as they broke all the prisoners free from the camp. Baymax would be given his purpose. He would be needed for any emergency cases, because Wasabi realized that no one was truly going to escape from that camp in one piece.

Walking to Hiro's old room, and looking in, Wasabi's eyes landed on Baymax's case. Even though he hadn't been activated for some time, his case was clean and taken care of. Everyone took it in turns to clean his travel case, but what he would be like on the inside was something that was beginning to worry Wasabi. Baymax had never been closed down for this long, and Wasabi wasn't sure what kind of damage it would do to Baymax or his battery. They would need to activate him soon, even if they lied to him about what had happened to Hiro.

'We'll get him back, Baymax. Don't you worry.' Wasabi said into the empty room before sighing and returning to his bench. Reaching into his pocket, Wasabi pulled out his phone and stared at the blank screen, hoping it would magically spring to life with the one call he was waiting for. If Tadashi were still here, he would not have been just sitting around waiting, is what Wasabi thought as he placed the phone back into his pocket.

Looking around the almost desolate lab, Wasabi reminisced on how only a few months ago, this room would never be empty, and Wasabi would be consistently anxious about who was going to steal one of things, or who would be the next to knock his things out of place. That never happened anymore. Most of the students in the lab had either been taken, or had dropped out. He'd hoped a lot of them had left San Fransokyo all together.

Wasabi had once or twice thought about leaving, but he couldn't bring himself to abandon his friends when they needed him most. He was not that kind of person, and they all needed each other. San Fransokyo was more to him than just a place that held his home. It also held everything he had aspired to grow up to be, or everything he had once aspired to grow up to be.

Setting back up at his desk, Wasabi stared into space thinking of nothing and everything at once. There were things he felt like he couldn't talk about with the gang, things he felt he shouldn't talk about with them. In truth, he felt scared; he didn't know what the future would bring. He didn't know what kind of future there was for him, and he feared for Hiro's future. There were things happening at that camp that Hiro would never tell them about, not even years into the future when all this was over with, he knew he would never get an answer from him and that worried him. He wanted to be able to help Hiro, he wanted to be able to be the friend to Hiro in the way that Tadashi was always a friend to him.

Deciding it was probably best not to think about it now, and he would cross that bridge when the time came, Wasabi began to pack up his stuff. It was beginning to get late, and Wasabi needed to get home.

Walking towards the door and turning the lights off to the lab as he left, Wasabi's phone began to vibrate. Panicking slightly, and his heart rate increasing, Wasabi looked at the screen. No caller ID.

'Hello?' Wasabi answered, pressing the answer button.

'Hello, is this Wasabi?' The voice asked, and without a doubt Wasabi recognized it to be Blake. 'This is Blake, from the other day.'

'Oh, hi, Blake.' Wasabi answered trying to still his racing heart. 'Any news?'

'Yes, I would say so.' Blake said to him, cryptically.

'Is there a place for us?' Wasabi asked, trying to coax the answer out.

'Congratulations, my friend. The commander has agreed to you and your little friends coming to work for us!' Blake shouted excitedly, and Wasabi couldn't help but be slightly suspicious. 'We do have a few terms for you though, but I'm sure you won't mind.'

'Not a problem,' Wasabi answered.

'Great, so the terms are set out like this…'

Xxxxx

'Guys!' Wasabi shouted, running to catch the rest of the gang at Cass' café. 'I have to speak to you.'

'You got the call?' Gogo asked quickly.

'I did.' Wasabi answered, stopping momentarily to catch his breath. 'We're in. He said to be there in two days, 8am sharp.'

'That's great. We finally get to see Hiro again!' Honey Lemon screamed. This was the beginning; they were finally getting to see Hiro again.

'There are just a few problems, though.' Wasabi began as he watched the faces of all his friends pause in hesitation and suspicion.

Xxxxx

'Today,' Blake began with a grin as he marched up and down the ranks of the prisoners. 'Today is a great day!'

The prisoners all looked forward, but Hiro could feel their suspicion. Great days never ended up being all that great for them.

'Prisoner 134532, would you mind venturing a guess as to why this day is to be such a great day?' Blake asked, stopping in front of Hiro, but addressing the man next to him.

'We get… more work?' The prisoner volunteered hesitantly.

'Nope.' Blake answered, before punching the prisoner hard in the gut. Hiro averted his eyes quickly to the man and saw him collapse to the ground. 'Someone pick this despicable thing off the ground, now. I didn't tell him to bow to me, yet.'

Hiro felt his anger rise, and clenched his fists. He felt pressure build in his skull. _Control it, control it, control it_ Hiro repeated in his head in an attempt to calm his mind and his body. He couldn't let himself be caught out now. He couldn't let them catch him out now.

'Today, we have some new faces joining us. I hope you'll help me in giving our new wardens a joyous new welcome!' Blake shouted before looking Hiro directly in the eyes. 'Because they mean so much to you, don't they, Hiro?'


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, guys! Wow, it's already been two weeks since I lasted posted a chapter of this, but hopefully everyone is doing great! As a sorry for never getting this chapter up before I left for Tokyo, this one is extra extra long (for me anyway, it's like 2,600 words!). I had an amazing time, I went to loads of different places and ate all kinds of food. I definitely would love to go back there, but, you know, holidays cost money and I'm definitely poor at the moment :P **

**Also, sorry for not getting back to anyone with review replies yet. I will get around to it, I've just been so hectic since I came back. My cousin had a baby, I started back in work. I literally didn't start writing this till about 3 hours ago, so if there are lots of mistakes, or something doesn't make sense, then please let me know! I haven't actually read it over properly, so there's bound to be some sentences in there that don't make any sense whatsoever. But, it's an exciting chapter, things are starting to move for sure!**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, and thanks for reading/reviewing/favouriting/alerting!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 14

'Because they mean so much to you, don't they, Hiro?' Hiro could feel the panic rising. This was the worst thing that could have happened. He knew it would happen, there was no way it wouldn't happen after Blake's little talk with him, but the illogical part of his brain hoped that they would never make it here. Hoped that they would never see what was really going on here. He never wanted anyone to know what was going on behind the scenes, what this camp was really trying to accomplish, and he knew it was only going to get worse from here on out.

'So, shall we bring them out?' Blake asked tauntingly, looking Hiro directly in the eye. If there was any certainty to the other prisoners, is that they were certain that these people were being brought here more for Hiro than for their own torment. They weren't certain if this would be a good thing for the camp, or worse. They all knew Hiro in some form or another, some had spoken to him, but none knew him enough to consider a friend. Hiro had always been the kind to keep to himself, always trying to find the right in the situation, and for those that had been there long enough, knew of his many plans and outspoken attitude towards their captivity. But, those people had also seen him fall, had watched from the sidelines as the guards had broken him down.

'My friends,' Blake started, 'these are your new wardens.'

Hiro watched with fear in his eyes as Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred appeared in front of them, all looking uncomfortable in their new grey prison uniforms.

'These are officers, Gogo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred.' Introduced Blake, 'and you shall treat them with the same amount of respect that you show me. Any less and they do have the power to punish you and detain your food rights.'

All prisoners stood to attention, all taking the time to quickly scan the faces of the new wardens that they would have to bow down too.

'Remember, we don't have to feed you. It is only through kindness that we do.' Blake threatened before walking over to the new wardens and leaving the prisoners standing in their lines.

Unknowing of what they were expected to do now, the prisoners continued to stand in their rows. Hiro felt his back slouching involuntarily, his head was pounding, and he was sure that the wounds on his back were becoming infected. He had not been able to clean them properly, and it felt like each day new injuries were adding themselves to his body. He could not keep up with the treatment, and this was his body's way of saying it could not take it anymore. He was sure that if they didn't get out of here soon, he was certain to die. He could not keep up this game physically or mentally no longer, and the sad thing was, at that current moment in time, he couldn't find it in himself to care whether he lived or died.

Xxxxx

'Welcome, dear friends!' Blake exclaimed as he walked over to them, 'I hope you are ready for dealing with this bunch of scum.'

'Couldn't be more ready, my friend.' Fred answered, looking at the long line of prisoners and catching his first glance at Hiro in what felt like a lifetime.

'Great, so they don't know what to do yet because they haven't had their inspections and they have not been given their daily duties.' Blake started, 'so, Fred and Gogo, you will be doing that with me. Honey Lemon, you are to go to the kitchen and help the women in there prepare meals. Wasabi, as agreed in our terms, you shall be helping out in hut 47.'

'Right.' They all answered.

'I hope you'll all do well, and Wasabi, hut 47 is where all the fun happens, so don't dawdle.' Blake ordered, nodding his head and walking away. Gogo and Fred took this as their cue and started following him to the start of the line of prisoners.

'Well, good luck.' Honey Lemon offered slowly, before walking off to try and find the kitchen to help out.

Wasabi stood in his place and stared out at the lines of prisoners. In one sense he felt accomplished, they were finally in, they had gotten to Hiro. The next step would be the hardest, they didn't have a real plan on how to get Hiro out of this place. Their meeting with the head of SFIT was complicated, the president of the school didn't taken random meetings with students and they couldn't really convey their idea so easily. They couldn't trust anyone truly in the institute in case they were not one of them.

Hesitantly, Wasabi began to walk away from the lines of prisoners after catching a quick glance at Hiro in the distance.

'Don't worry, Tadashi. We'll get him out soon.' Wasabi whispered into the air as he continued on to look for hut 47.

Xxxxx

'So, what are we expected to do?' Gogo ventured as they caught up to Blake.

'You are to decide whether which of these prisoners are fit for work. They know what to do, it's fine. Just take a quick look at them all and if they look fit, then say "fit" or "unfit", I'll follow you so they don't try sneaking into the wrong line of people.' Blake explained.

Gogo couldn't help but feel that there was something more to this whole job than he was letting on, that there was something that he wasn't explaining to them, but she didn't know how to raise it with him.

'So, lets start here. Take a look at him, if he seems fit, say so and so on.' Blake said as they stood in front of the first prisoner.

Gogo looked at the first man, a frail and old Japanese man, his clothes were dirty and hung off his body limply. There didn't appear to be anything of him, but there also didn't seem to be anything wrong with him that she could see.

'Fit,' Gogo said, and could have sworn she saw the man sigh from relief. Confused, Gogo carried on, as Blake found another warden to take Fred to another line of prisoners.

By the tenth prisoner in the line, Gogo had began to get the hang of what was expected, declaring them either fit or unfit, but one thing that didn't escape her notice was the way they seized up and acted when they were declared unfit. Gogo had assumed they would be pleased, thinking they would get less work and perhaps even have a nicer time, but judging from the prisoners attitudes, the opposite happened.

Picking up speed, Gogo looked up to her next prisoner and halted, noticing it was Hiro who stood before her. She noticed how he stood tall, but the exhaustion in his eyes made her believe that there was more to what was going on with him. His clothes were torn, and his cheekbones were prominent. If Gogo could describe it in any sort of way, she would say he almost looked like the walking dead. Looking into his eyes properly for the first time in months, Gogo noticed that they had lost the light that made them so Hiro, they had lost their life. His eyes had matured; they were more weary and hesitant.

'Fit,' Gogo declared on a rash decision, and noticed the beginnings of a grin on his face. Deciding that she had probably done the right thing, Gogo moved to the next person.

Throughout the inspection, Gogo could feel the hard gaze of Blake behind her. It wasn't a feeling she particularly liked; it felt cold and calculating, almost as if he was deciding what to do with her. Almost as if he was waiting for her to mess up and do something wrong. Gogo didn't like it, but she couldn't say anything about it. She needed to be here, she needed to do right.

Gogo reached the end of her line, and looked up to Blake not knowing what to do next.

'Great, so let's go start our next job.' Blake said to her with a strange grin on his face as he led Gogo back to the beginning of the line where the prisoners had moved off to their new lines.

Xxxxx

Honey Lemon nervously entered the kitchen and looked around.

'Hello?' She started, walking towards another door at the back of the room and knocked.

'Ah, you must be the new warden.' An old lady said as she opened the door. Honey Lemon was surprised to see such an old lady working on the camp, she had thought that it was younger people who worked here. 'Don't worry, we'll show you the ropes.'

Honey Lemon smiled, but she was sure she wasn't going to enjoy working here.

Xxxxx

Wasabi reached hut 47, and walked into the room. There were three other wardens in the room, but that was not what caught Wasabi's attention. It was the room. It was the same room they brought him and the gang to when they had met Hiro last time. A sinking feeling of dread rose within Wasabi, and it was finally beginning to click for Wasabi. Whatever they were doing here, they wanted to keep it secret, and now Wasabi was going to be a part of it.

'You must be the new helper,' One of the officers said to Wasabi. Wasabi turned to look at the other warden, and smiled at him.

'Yes, I'm Wasabi, Blake sent me here.' Wasabi answered.

'Well, Wasabi, you must be quite special. Blake doesn't just send normal people here.' The officer explained. 'What have you done outside of here then? It must have been quite impressive to get sent straight here.'

'Uh, I studied at SFIT,' Wasabi offered hesitantly, not sure that was the answering they were looking for.

'That's great. We're always looking for some smart SFIT rebels. I was one, too. Isn't it so freeing to be away from that place?' Wasabi didn't have the heart to tell him that his sentence didn't really make any sense, and he didn't want to tell him that he thought SFIT was the best place he had ever been to. 'I'm Henry, by the way.'

'Henry?' Wasabi asked him, not sure on whether to believe him.

'Yeah, my parents were old fashioned.' Henry replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 'Blake will be here soon, so luckily you won't have to wait long. This is so exciting; we've been needing a pair of fresh eyes in here. We need to see where we've been going wrong with everything.'

Xxxxx

'Now, now, Hiro. I told you not to cross me, and this is my answer. You disobey me in there, and there'll be some repercussions with your little friends.' Blake threatened as he led Hiro to the room he always dreaded. These days it almost felt as if he never got to see any kind of sunlight. He would spend his life in this room, waiting, refusing. He would never give them what they want, but they changed everything.

It wasn't just him he had to think about now, and that complicated things.

Opening the door, Blake grabbed the rope attached to Hiro's wrists and began to drag him inside the bright room.

Inside, Hiro's heart dropped to the floor, and stood completely still. Inside the room, stood Wasabi. _No, no, no, no_ repeated through Hiro's head like a mantra. He couldn't believe this was happening, his head felt light, his vision hazy. This could not be happening. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't put them in danger. He couldn't give them what they wanted. He couldn't do anything. He was terrified. He was panicking. He felt the sweat begin to gather at the nape of his neck. He felt Blake's glee. He felt Wasabi's stare.

Hiro looked to Wasabi and quickly tried to regain his composure, but he knew that he had slipped up, and he knew that Blake had caught the slip.

'I see you found the room well, Wasabi?' Blake asked innocently as he dragged Hiro to the chair.

'Yes, it wasn't too bad.' Wasabi answered slowly as he watched Hiro be strapped to the chair. Wasabi had so many questions brewing through his mind, and ones he knew he would never receive an answer to. He was scared. He was scared for himself. He was scared for Hiro. He was scared for his friends that he had brought here under the pretense of doing right.

'Welcome to the underground of the prison camp, Mr Wasabi.' Blake started. 'This is our lovely prisoner number 11281931. He also goes by Hiro. He's strangely uncooperative, even after all this time here. But, sometimes, a new pair of eyes and hands can get people to really cooperate.'

'Right, so what do you want me to do?' Wasabi asked, trying to regain control of his mind. He looked to Hiro and saw him try to do the same thing. He tried to convey the message to him to continue as normal, Wasabi could handle the repercussions of what was going to happen, but he knew what Hiro was like, he knew he would never listen to him.

'For now, I would just like you to watch. Tomorrow, you can give feedback on where we could improve.' Blake said. 'Bring the first one.'

Wasabi watched as one of the wardens brought a large needle towards Hiro. Things were beginning to click for Wasabi, and he was horrified. He couldn't even process it properly. He looked over to Hiro's calm face, this wasn't the part he was worried about.

'This one will just help him relax.' Blake informed Wasabi, but Wasabi was more curious to what was inside it to make Hiro relax, and what exactly it was relaxing. Wasabi watched the needle being inserted into Hiro's thin arm, and the liquid injected into his arm. 'Bring the fun one.'

'What does the fun one do?' Wasabi asked.

'You'll see.' Blake answered cryptically. 'Now, Hiro, are you going to show us what we want?'

This was where Wasabi notice Hiro begins to panic, Hiro began to attempt to get his arms out of the restraints that held him, but it was useless. His arms were tied tightly, and there was no way for him to get out.

'No.' Hiro answered eventually.

'Well, that's an interesting answer.' Blake answered smiling as the warden injected the second needle into Hiro's arm.

Hiro's reaction was instant. His back arched off the chair, his nails tried to dig their way through the chair, his eyes scrunched together tightly.

'Can you do it now?' Blake asked lightly.

'No.' Hiro answered after a pause, and Wasabi noticed things on the floor begin to shake.

'Surely, it's more painful for you to keep this all, Hiro.' Blake taunted, and Wasabi looked terrified at Blake and then at Hiro.

'What're you doing to him?' He asked, horrified. Wasabi didn't want to believe it, he didn't want to see it. He was scared, he felt guilty, he felt dirty. He didn't want to be a part of it.

'We're just trying something out.' Blake told him, 'pay attention now. Henry, up the dosage.'

And Wasabi could only look on in horror as the screaming began.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey, guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry if I've still not got back to your reviews and everything, I've just been so busy, and when I did get my weekend off this weekend, I was ill! I still am ill, but I have like this major anxiety about not posting my chapters unless I've said I'm not going to post them. So, here you are! It's not really the best chapter to have ever graced the existence of literature, but hey, sometimes a slow chapter is necessary, right? (It's totally okay to say no, because I really understand how frustrating slow chapters are!)**

**Also, small little fun fact for you. At the university where I work, there's actually a cafe called Callaghan's. I go there for coffee quite often, but I'm still yet to see any sign of the Big Hero 6 :P**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/favourited/alerted the last chapter!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 15

'Of course, San Fransokyo Institute of Technology would be proud to help.' Professor Bradley Vance said to the group of teenagers sitting in his office. Every precaution had been taken care of that there would be no prying eyes or ears listening in to the conversation, but still Bradley Vance scanned the windows nervously. 'But, the only issue I can think of is the amount of people we would be trying to move. We'd have to organize transportation from outside the city, get the hospital staff ready to help, get them out of the camp. How many prisoners are there approximately?'

'From what we can see, there must be at least three hundred there. But, more and more are dying, even with all we're trying to do behind the scenes, it's not helping that much.' Wasabi explained nervously.

'We'd have to try it at night, of course.' Vance continued.

'Actually, sir.' Honey Lemon interrupted. 'I've had a look at all the rosters, and there's a certain part of the day that the security is at it's lowest.'

'Ah, good planning. About what time is it?' Vance asked.

'In their usual day, lunch is at 2 in the afternoon currently, it's the switch just after the food and them starting back to work is where the staff is at their weakest. There are generally at least 8 guards less, and if we can get the prisoners on our side, we can use them to incite a rebellion.' Honey Lemon stated.

'Great thinking, but how much time does it give us to get the buses there and the prisoners out?'

'With the guards in the watchtower, 10 minutes maximum if we distracted them for long enough. If we could somehow manage to get rid of the watch tower too, we could get maybe half hour, maximum.' Honey Lemon explained.

'Without the cover of the night, it could make it slightly problematic, and it would have to be an all out assault. But, if it looks like that might work better then leave the rest to me.' Vance said, looking each teen in the eye. 'We'll get them out, but I'll need some time to organize it all. Get some willing drivers and get back in contact with my old hospitals. You guys need to start on your uprising.'

'Thank you so much, sir. This means so much to all of us.' Wasabi said with a grin on his face.

'Just hold on a little longer, we'll get them all out of there.' Vance reassured them as he led them to the door. He had much to organize, but he was sure he still knew a couple of people who'd be willing to give him one last favour.

Xxxxx

'So, what's the plan to be?' Fred asked as they walked into the café after the meeting with Vance.

'We need to get speak with Hiro as soon as possible.' Honey Lemon replied.

'Does anyone get to see Hiro at all during their day?' Gogo asked. 'I thought with Fred and I doing the field watch we'd get to see him working, but he always seems to get sent somewhere else.'

'I do.' Wasabi answered hesitantly. He'd never spoken to the group of the things he'd seen at the camp. The way that Hiro had been treated there had been traumatizing, and as much as he'd wanted to tell them what had been happening, Hiro had made him swear not to tell anyone. The desperation in his voice had scared Wasabi, and Wasabi had at first been unsure of whether to accept, but it was the way he had begged and pleaded for him not to tell anyone made Wasabi finally agree to it.

'Why didn't you see you get to see the little dude? We totes could have snuck away to come see him, too!' Fred exclaimed, but it was the suspicious looks that Gogo sent him that made Wasabi rethink his decision to tell them he had seen Hiro, or at least had an opportunity to speak with him.

'I'm on hut duties.' Wasabi lied. 'I've only ever seen him the once, when Blake has been leading him away. It wasn't really an opportunity to say anything to him.'

'Do you think you could organize your day tomorrow so that you are at the exact same place tomorrow to get to speak to him?' Gogo asked.

'Yeah, I probably could. It just depends on how much Blake trusts me to get a moment to speak to him.' Wasabi lied. He knew Blake didn't trust him. He knew Blake didn't trust any of them, and getting Hiro on his own was going to be a problem on its own. Blake didn't leave Hiro alone at all, it was if he knew something about Hiro and was just waiting for Hiro to break enough to slip up. Then there were the experiments. Wasabi still didn't know what they were supposed to achieve, but each day they had been there, he had noticed Blake getting more and more intense, and Hiro getting more and more tired.

Wasabi looked at each friend in turn, and felt their determination. He saw them, he saw what they were willing to do, and he was willing to do it. For once in his life, he needed to look at what was going on around him and step out of his comfort zone. He would get Hiro alone; he would get him some help.

'Honey Lemon, would you be able to get word out to the other prisoners?' Wasabi asked, looking at Honey Lemon. 'You work in the kitchen, would there be any way you could slip a note or something with their food? We can't take our phones or any kind of tech in the room with us, but we can make little notes and we can get that through?'

'Yeah, I can. Only problem is they don't eat all that much, so I'd have to be super sneaky about it.' Honey Lemon explained.

'Great, then, lets get to work. Vance said he'd need some time, but we can start getting everything ready now.' Fred said excitedly before running out of the café.

Xxxxx

The next morning arrived too quickly for Wasabi's liking, and he slowly began to get ready for another day at the camp. It was surprising at first that they had been allowed to come back to the city to their houses. He had been prepared to stay at the camp and not be able to move around freely, but it was treated as any other kind of job. The only condition was that they didn't wear their uniforms to work; they had to change on the site.

They had officially been working on the site for a week now, and the routine was finally beginning to settle. But for a week, he had been forced to watch Hiro go through the torture and the pain of that room and it was wearing him down. It was almost as if Blake were trying to mentally torture him with forcing him to watch Hiro get experimented on in the cruelest of ways. But he needed to be strong and he needed to show his resolve. He was certain now that Vance was on their side, everything would get moving.

They had spent quite a lot of the night thinking about what they were going to do, and they would survive. The future was uncertain, but they were certain they would spend it with Hiro.

Xxxxx

Arriving at the camp, Wasabi took a deep breath and turned to the rest of the group.

'Ready?' He asked, looking each of them in the eye. He didn't really need a verbal response, he could see from all of their faces that though they were scared, they were also nervous. Today would be the start of the change. Today would be the beginning of history. 'Well, lets get going.'

Xxxxx

Honey Lemon arrived at the kitchen, a little hesitant, but determined. She had an important job, and she would not fail them. In the time she had spent here, she believed that she had probably seen the most of Hiro, she had seen him come here everyday, and she had served him his food. It had been hard, because she had not been able to do anything to help him. She hadn't been able to speak to him, and that hurt her the most. Blake always followed him in here, making it nearly impossible for her to be other than nonchalant when he entered.

It pained her not to be able to speak to him, but his safety was more important than anything else.

The kitchen was the same as it usually was when she entered, bright and empty. Honey Lemon had learnt that since the changes to what the prisoners had to be fed had taken place, there wasn't really much to do in the kitchen, but she utilized the time efficiently. She had come to know many of the women working in the kitchen, and had come to learn that though they had a unanimous hatred for the Japanese people, they also did not want to be here, they did not want to see people suffer. Honey Lemon found it an odd balance, but she was glad that they didn't agree with the way the Japanese were treated, it demonstrated to her that people could change, that not everyone in San Fransokyo was the same.

'Honey Lemon? Is that you?' One lady shouted from the office.

'Coming!' She shouted back and smiled. Today the uprising would begin.

Xxxxx

Wasabi endured. He endured and he watched. Today, the suffering had a purpose, and it would not last for much longer. Wasabi knew they were desperately short on time, and he hoped that Vance wouldn't wait for too long to give them a date. Even if they didn't have all the prisoners on board, the thing that mattered most to him was getting Hiro out of the prison camp.

Hiro writhed and screamed on the chair that held him down so cruelly and Wasabi tried his best to wish he had actual super powers to get Hiro out of this situation now. Wishes he could just knock him out and run far away with Hiro. He knew deep down Hiro would never forgive him, but he was sure never having to speak with Hiro again would be a good payment for knowing he wasn't suffering anymore.

The session was due to end soon, he could feel Blake's frustration at not getting what he wants, that Blake had perhaps thought that brining Wasabi in here would change Hiro's opinion. This realization was what had lead Wasabi to believe that Blake had been suspicious of them from the offset, but he wasn't totally sure of the reasoning behind it. Blake didn't have any reason to be suspicious of them, they hadn't done anything… yet.

With the session winding down, Wasabi saw this as his chance to get Hiro alone. Blake's frustrations were high, and Wasabi hoped that this would leave him to make bad decisions.

'One day, you'll do anything I tell you.' Blake threatened at the exhausted Hiro. Hiro didn't seem very responsive of his threats, and barely moved to acknowledge them.

'How about you leave him to me?' Wasabi asked, stepping forward. 'I'll take him back to the rooms and make sure he doesn't leave.'

Blake seemed to stop and think about it, and this was where Wasabi could tell his idea wasn't going down too well.

'Okay.' Blake replied cheerily, and Wasabi was taken aback by the sudden change of attitude.

Wasabi approached Hiro and lifted him from the armpits as delicately as possible, and begun to carry him outside.

'You there!' Blake shouted suddenly from behind causing Wasabi to jump. 'Watch over these two, the Jap loves to play games with new recruits.'

Wasabi heart sunk as a different warden walked up behind them and began to follow them as Wasabi led Hiro back to the dorms. Hoisting Hiro further up so that his feet wasn't touching the ground too bad, Wasabi slipped a piece of paper he had discreetly kept hidden in the sleeve of his arm and passed it quickly to Hiro who seemed to be alert enough to respond, but not make a scene.

The trio quickly arrived back at the dorm and Wasabi opened the door for Hiro.

'Now you stay in there and have a good think about what Blake wants you to do.' Wasabi said as venomously as he could before slamming the door on Hiro's face. Wasabi hoped it was convincing, but the other warden made no move to show that he acknowledged what Wasabi had said at all.

Wasabi looked in the direction of the kitchen where he was sure Honey Lemon was waiting. Her job was over, and for now, it was just waiting on things to play out.

Xxxxx

Hiro looked around the room, looking for wardens, or any suspicious people before limping over to his bed and lying down. Turning his back to the wall, Hiro opened the piece of paper that Wasabi had given him.

"Hiro," the letter began, "tonight, we will meet in the dorm with your fellow prisoners. Tonight we begin the Uprising."


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey, guys! Here's the next chapter of The Uprising! Sorry, it feels a bit of a bogus chapter, but my head's totally all over the place, I've been so ill this week, and I swear, like every time this week I've sat down to try and write, something else has come up. Like, I'm so all over the place for this one convention I'm going to in like 2 weeks. I've not really got anything finished and sorted in terms of cosplay, and that's kind of stressing me out. But, I think I've got it mostly all sorted. I'm cosplaying Honey Lemon for one of the days I'm there, which is going to be really exciting!**

**Anyway, thanks for all your continued reading. We've made it to chapter 16! When I first started writing this, I honestly thought I would have either finished it now, or totally given up on it by now. But these little ideas just keep coming back to me and I have so much more I want to say to you!**

Chapter 16

Hiro paced the dorm room, nervous. As the night progressed, more and more of the prisoners began to get restless, and it didn't take much for Hiro to work out that everyone had been invited to this meeting. Whilst he was grateful that his friends had taken his stance on not leaving alone seriously, he didn't think they would take it this seriously.

Though, he really should have realized their determination to help him with everything the moment they agreed to become part of the Big Hero 6.

Hiro could have laughed if it weren't for his fear of what this night would bring. He didn't know what the others knew about him, after all this time in this camp, his trust had steadily been ripped away from him, and he wasn't sure how much he trusted Wasabi to not tell anyone what had been happening to him behind the scene. He was worried, every day he felt his body give out, he felt himself getting weaker, and his head pounding worse and worse, the need to just let it all out just crawling through his fingertips. But he couldn't let loose, not here, not ever. This would be his end, and the secret he would take to the grave.

Feeling his legs grow tired, Hiro reached his bed and sat down and looked at his camp mates. Many of them were sending him suspicious glances, thinking that he was the one behind this, others talking quietly to other prisoners. The lights were dimmed to their lowest settings, and the blinds drawn. No one wanted to arouse any kind of suspicion; they didn't want to be found out.

Many of them didn't even know what was going on, what they were being gathered for. Some of the newer prisoners believed it could be hopeful; someone was finally coming to save them, whilst others, the ones who had been here longer were more suspicious. They believed that it was probably just a trick caused by the wardens to find a new reason to punish them, but there was still even the smallest glimmer of hope in those prisoners. They wanted to be saved as much as the next prisoner, but they also didn't want to let go of their doubts. Their cynicism is what gets them through the day; they have outlived their days of living in hope that this hell would one day be over.

As the night wore on, one by one, each prisoner got less and less hopeful that anything was going to happen, and that perhaps this was just a massive joke set up by the wardens to catch them out. But, for Hiro, he was getting more and more worried as the night wore on. He didn't know what the others were planning, and he didn't know how they thought they would be able to get in here after hours when they didn't work after hours, but he knew they wouldn't just set things up to just not turn up. He just hoped that they were okay.

Xxxxx

'You ready, guys?' Wasabi asked, looking at the group of friends who were nervously sat in his car.

'As ready as we're ever going to be.' Gogo answered.

'There's no going back from here.' Fred whispered ominously. Wasabi sighed at his response, and opened the door to his car and stepped out.

'We're all good with the plan?' Wasabi checked. 'I'll go in first. Then, you guys come in whilst I'm talking to the guards.'

'Right.' They all chorused as they turned towards the gate. This was it, this was the end.

Xxxxx

Hiro felt his eyes begin to droop closed. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew it was getting on, and he knew that all the prisoners were slowly beginning to get agitated with the amount of time they had been waiting for. Everyone here had to be up at the crack of dawn, and none of them wanted to be any more tired than they already felt.

Suddenly a noise was heard just outside the door, and all prisoners darted to turn the lights out and try to scramble to their beds before the worst could happen.

The door opened slowly, and Hiro felt his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. He scrunched his eyes closed, and prayed that this wasn't Blake coming back to tell him that they had all failed, that he knew all along what they were planning.

'Hiro?' A distinctively female voice whispered from the door, and Hiro knew he would recognize the voice of Honey Lemon from anywhere.

'Honey Lemon?' Hiro whispered, sitting up on his bed and turning his light on.

'Oh, thank god. We thought we'd never get to the place.' Honey Lemon exclaimed theatrically before running as quietly as she could over to Hiro's bed. By this point, every other prisoner in the dorm had risen and turned their light on and were staring at them with curiosity and distrust.

Wasabi, Fred and Gogo all approached the room slowly and made sure to shut the door firmly behind them.

'You would not believe the kind of espionage we had to pull to get in here, dude. It's like trying to invade a country.' Fred said as he settled himself on the bed next to Hiro.

'Well, uh, great to see you, too.' Hiro stuttered, pulling at his shirt to make sure that Fred couldn't see any of the marks there.

'These people are your friends?' One prisoner remarked from the corner of the dorm room, and Hiro snapped his head up to find the prisoner.

At a loss for words, Hiro didn't know how to respond. For a moment, it had almost seemed like old times, and none of these people had been here.

'We're friends of Hiro.' Honey Lemon began, noticing that the rest had frozen up. 'We've come to help you guys out.'

'And why would you care about us?' The same prisoner asked, to a chorus of approval by other prisoners.

'Because we're not like the people you see every day. We've worked so hard to find Hiro, and we're not going to leave you guys behind either.' Honey Lemon replied, heated. She hated to think that these people would be so instantly judgmental of her, but she knew they had no other reason to be. The only thing they'd seen of them since they had joined this camp was of them being just as horrible as the other warden's. Honey Lemon didn't want to be associated with other warden's, but she understood that they had no trust for them, and that was something she wanted to change. She also knew that the other people of San Fransokyo could change, the only thing they needed was to see what was going on, and how their opinion was affecting the other residents of San Fransokyo.

'What kind of plan do you have for us?' Another prisoner asked. Hiro looked at all his friends. He wanted to know, too. He didn't want to put them in any more danger than they had already found themselves in.

'So, it's only plan at the moment, and things are moving. We have some people backing us from outside, and from different cities.' Wasabi started, and he watched as the other prisoners' ears pricked up when he spoke of other cities. 'We're planning on a rebellion. We'll have to stage a fight, all of us will get out. We'll have transport on standby and hospitals and safe houses in safer cities that have already been informed of you coming and are willing to help.'

'You think it'll be that easy?' Hiro asked, cynically.

'I do, Hiro.' Wasabi answered him. 'It can be as easy as you want, you just need to believe in it.'

'And what about after that?' A prisoner shouted, 'what do we do when we get out? We no longer have a place to stay in San Fransokyo, we won't be accepted at the safe houses for too long, and we'll be hunted. Thoughts like our precious cities are infectious and spread. Soon enough, the whole damn country will be thinking the same and we won't be allowed to leave. What do we do then?'

Hiro sat on his bed, his head pounding, but a small part of him wanted this to work so bad, and he wanted everything to work out well.

'We film what's going on here.' Hiro said suddenly, a thought coming to him. 'We can disperse cameras throughout us all, and without video proof of what's happening here, we can shock people into thinking against what's going on here.'

'That's the Hiro I remember!' Wasabi exclaimed.

'We can bring some camera's in tomorrow, you think you can do your thing and filter them smaller?' Gogo asked.

'Totally. It's been a long time since I touched any kind of tech, but I'll get around it in a synch.' Hiro answered, feeling the first touches of excitement that he'd felt in a long time.

'That's my man!' Fred said, pumping his fist in the air in excitement.

As the night wore on, the other prisoners set up their places in bed, growing tired, but for the first night they felt happy. They had a plan, and a future outside the fences of this prison camp.

'It's almost as if you guys are the Big Hero 6 come to save us.' One man remarked tiredly as he closed his eyes to go to sleep. Hiro laughed nervously, before denying.

'We're just a bunch of students from San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.' Hiro said to him.

'At least we know we have the smart ones on our side.' He answered before the sound of his deep breathing filled the room.

'It's so good to see you, Hiro.' Honey Lemon whispered after checking to see that everyone else had fallen asleep.

'Yeah, good to see you guys, too.' Hiro replied. 'How have you guys managed to get all this together?'

'We've been planning for a couple of weeks.' Wasabi answered. 'It's been tough going, we've had to be so cautious about everything.'

'Yeah,' Hiro replied. 'I know how you feel.'

'But, lets ignore that for now. You're here; we're going to help. No one will ever have to suffer the way you've done ever again.' Honey Lemon said to him encouragingly.

'We should probably make a move,' Gogo said to the group. 'We can't be here when Blake arrives, and we'll have to sweet talk security again. They think your working, Wasabi.'

'Yeah, okay.' Wasabi replied.

'We'll see you tomorrow, little man.' Fred said, as he, Honey Lemon and Gogo walked towards the door.

'I'll be with you in a second, guys.' Wasabi said to them, 'I'll meet you at the meet point.'

The others nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Wasabi and Hiro alone.

'What's up?' Hiro asked nervously, looking around the room.

'I think we should film what they're doing to you.' Wasabi said bluntly. 'We've got a pretty good case against them, as is, but with you, it takes it to a whole new level.'

'I don't know, Wasabi.' Hiro replied, hesitantly. 'I don't want anyone to know.'

'And what then? You let them get off with nothing?' Wasabi asked, angrily. 'You have to do something about them. I've not told the others, I think you should be the one to do it, but we need to take them down from every angle possible.'

Hiro didn't have a reply for Wasabi, his mind was in turmoil. He didn't want them to know, he didn't want the world he was some kind of freak, but the idea of taking Blake down with him was as enticing as anything else.

'Good,' Wasabi said, taking Hiro's silence as acceptance for the idea. 'By the way, can you make this untraceable? It'll be for your benefit.'

Xxxxx

Cass groaned as her phone rang, who the hell rang at this godforsaken hour? Slowly sitting up, Cass blindly searched for the cordless phone on her bedside. A habit she had picked up since Tadashi's death, when Hiro started to disappear into the night without warning. She kept the phone handy incase he ever needed her.

'Hello?' She answered groggily, not thinking to check who was calling.

'_Aunt Cass?'_

'Hiro?'


	17. Authors Note

Authors note:

Hey, guys. Sorry there hasn't been an update in a couple of weeks, I hate not updating, but there's been a couple of things going on lately that meant I haven't been able to update. But, I thought I'd better keep you guys updated on what's been going on and to reassure you that updates will continue to happen ASAP.

The biggest reason being I've been in the hospital. Nothing serious, well, for me at least. Without going into any kind of gory details, I'll just give a brief rundown, I suffer with Crohn's disease, which in a short term means my digestive system is a bit whacky. I'd been feeling unwell for a couple of weeks, but one night about two and a half weeks ago, it just got really bad. I was rushed into the hospital, I was spewing blood and everything and it just kept getting worse. They eventually found a blockage, and I got a tube stuck down my throat to clear it, and slowly started to get better. So, I got out on Friday, so I'm feeling a little worse for wear, but updates will resume next Sunday!

So, hopefully you can all sit in anticipation for another week, and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible.

Thank you for being so patient with me!


	18. Chapter 17

**Hey, guys. First off, let me thank you all for your patience and support after the incredibly long wait. It really meant a lot to me to get those well wishes, and I hope everyone else is doing okay. **

**I have seen all your reviews and PM's, and I promise, I will be getting around to replying as soon as possible. I have started to feel a little more human over the last couple of days, but I do apologise if this chapter doesn't seem to be all there. I am only just starting to get back into my normal routine, and slow return to work, but hopefully things will start to get back to routine this week. In all honesty, I should have really seen it all coming, my stomach had been playing me up for a couple of weeks before, but I just ****brushed it off as my body being its usual self and just drank more energy drinks to keep my hydration levels up, but it just didn't seem to work this time!**

**The other thing that sucked about my hospital stay was that I missed my convention! I was so looking forward to going and I'd spent so much money on it, and I missed it all! I guess there's always next year, though, right? **

**Anyway, enough about me and my problems, here's the next chapter! Thanks to everyone for their continued support!**

Chapter 17

Cass could have dropped the phone from pure shock and fear. Her world froze and she didn't know how to respond. Hiro's name fell from her lips, his voice had matured, he sounded weary and tired, and Cass felt her eyes well up and her throat swell with emotion for the voice she thought she would never hear again but spent every night hoping would walk back into her life.

'Hiro? How are you phoning me? Where are you?' And it suddenly felt like the world was spinning in rapid motions and her brain was moving too fast for her to handle. Her palms felt clammy and sweat dripped from her brow.

_'__Cass, I can't explain too much, I don't know how long the encryption on the phone will last out. Wasabi knows everything, and he will tell you everything.' _Hiro explained to her in a hurry, and Cass felt like her brain couldn't keep up with the fact, not even the idea that her Hiro hadn't even called her Aunt Cass, as if he'd grown too old for such formalities. _'I promise, Aunt Cass, I'll survive long enough to be able to see you again.'_

And just like that, the line went dead, and Cass was once more alone in her own world. After a while, Cass couldn't decide whether it was something that she had dreamt up for herself, or whether it was something that had actually happened. She had dreamt of that moment for so long, she had heard his voice on so many different occasions that it was easy enough for her to convince herself that it wasn't a dream. But, every time she looked at the phone, it displayed a withheld call. A call had definitely taken place, and that was the anchor to her hope. In the morning, she would definitely find out what was happening, and she would definitely understand and be able to help out.

She wouldn't let Hiro down this time. She would be the mother and Aunt to him that she had always been.

Xxxxx

Hiro was shaking as he hung up the phone, the raw ache of not being able to see his aunt, or be able to hold her was affecting him in a way that it hadn't in some time.

'You alright, Hiro?' Wasabi whispered, looking at his friend concerned.

'I'll be fine. We just need to focus on getting out of this place.' Hiro replied, turning to look at Wasabi. 'You need to leave, before the guards get suspicious of what you're doing in here, and you get caught out before anything can happen.'

'Right.' Wasabi replied uncertainly. 'I'll see you in a couple of hours. People need to know about what they've been doing to you though.'

'Right.' Hiro replied, hesitantly. That was one thing he was certain he didn't want anyone to know about.

Xxxxx

The morning dawned quickly, and to Hiro it felt like he hadn't managed to get any sleep at all. Casting a quick glance at the other occupants in the room, many of the other prisoners had an ambience of hope. They seemed so much livelier than Hiro, but Hiro knew how hard it really was going to be. He knew from experience what happened when people tried to escape, and it wasn't as if he was doubting that they were able to get out of this place, he just knew what happened if things went a little bit wrong. He knew the punishment, and he knew what they did to the people who tried to get out.

Walking out into the sunshine of the camp felt somehow different today, the oppressive atmosphere felt lighter, the other prisoners didn't feel so imposing, and Hiro felt his back straightening slightly. He so wanted to indulge in the feeling of hope with the other prisoners, and he wanted to be able to believe wholeheartedly that this couldn't fail, but he had believed that last time and that hadn't ended so well.

Looking up at the forming lines of prisoners, Hiro saw Gogo and Fred doing the usual line patrol telling prisoners if they were fit or unfit to work. Hiro guessed that they had picked up on the punishment of what happened if you were deemed unfit to work, as these days the people who looked more or less the more capable of working were declared unfit for work and the unfit were declared fit.

At first, some of the men grumbled at the unfairness of it all, but no one grumbled today. Not a whisper was said against Gogo and Fred, and people followed obediently towards their own respective queues. Hiro was sure that some of the other prisoners picked up on the lack of grumbling, and were suspicious of why, but they had no reason to believe that anything was different. This session of guards had all only just come in; there would be no reason for these guards to be even slightly suspicious of Gogo and Fred.

Today, it was Fred who declared him fit for work, and for once, Hiro wanted to grumble at him and tell him he was fine to do the extra. Though, the extra for Hiro really didn't mean anything as he spent most of his days now locked up with Blake and Wasabi.

Hiro turned to his place in line and walked towards Blake who was, as always, standing there expectantly. Hiro sighed in defeat. He was ready for another day.

Xxxxx

After the night's events, and getting out of the camp relatively unnoticed, it wasn't until Wasabi arrived back to his home that he realized that he was shaking, and shaking bad. He was nervous and the whole situation hadn't really had a chance to sink in yet.

He was sure it would sink in, soon. Sitting on his bed, he looked at the time. It was already four in the morning, he would need to be awake in just a few short hours ready for going back to the camp site.

Slowly getting ready for bed, Wasabi set his alarm for 6.30 and mentally preparing what he thought he needed ready for the morning. He needed to get his cameras; he needed to get cameras from Cass. He knew that Hiro always kept quite a few, but whether they were still there was another question. He needed to find out. He needed to get around to Cass and actually explain what was happening, but he wasn't sure there was going to be enough time for that in the morning. He might have to explain to her that he would tell her later when he got back.

The more Wasabi thought about it, the less he wanted to leave it. He felt like he owed it to Cass to explain to her what was happening, and he didn't want to let Hiro down. Hiro was trusting him to tell Cass everything, or as much as he could.

The need to sleep was leaving him, and he was sure that Cass wouldn't be sleeping now, especially after the phone call she had from Hiro, she was probably up waiting for him to come over, and he couldn't leave her like that.

Wasabi was itching to leave; he needed to be doing something. He couldn't go to sleep with so much stuff left over. He needed everything to be in order before he went back to the campsite tomorrow. The cameras needed to be ready by the end of tomorrow night so that they could record everything the day after, and Wasabi was secretly hoping that Bradley Vance would get in contact with him as soon as possible with a date to get everyone out. Wasabi felt like there wasn't much more preparation he could do without a date from Vance.

Wasabi got thinking that perhaps he should give Vance a ring, and see where he was with the plans. He could then let the prisoners know later on what was going on with the plans to leave. But then, Vance had told them to give him a couple of days to sort a couple of things out, and they were asking quite a lot from him. Wasabi felt like the only thing they were really doing was getting the prisoners out of the camp, and to Wasabi, that didn't feel like a lot.

Deciding he could not longer stay in bed, and with a new rush of determination, Wasabi got ready for the new day, grabbed his keys and headed to his car where he knew Cass would be waiting for him, he knew she wouldn't be sleeping now. Hiro had left her with too much to sleep.

Xxxxx

Wasabi arrived at Cass' café as the sun was beginning to rise, his stomach a nervous ball of energy. In the back of his car were three of the smallest cameras he could find. One of them, he remembered Hiro himself fixing up for him, and the thought brought a smile to his face.

Slowly walking up to the back entrance to the café, Wasabi nervously lifted his arm to knock the door, but Cass beat him to it.

'I thought you might have been awake.' Wasabi said, nervously. His face and body tense in anticipation for the conversation ahead.

'Come in.' She said to him before moving aside to let him in.

'So, where do you want me to start?' Wasabi asked, looking at Cass properly for the first time in what Wasabi thought must have been months. It was like a rose tinted lens had been taken away, and he was seeing her for the first time since before all this happened.

Cass had lost weight, and a lot of it. Her face was almost skeletal and the entire colour had been drained from her features. Her hair now sported gray streaks, and had lost its usually vibrant red colour.

'From the start.' Cass said to him as she led him to the sofa in the living room. 'I had a feeling you were up to something, and you said you found him, but I didn't want to believe it was bad.'

Wasabi sat on the sofa and stared at his hands. He didn't know how he was going to break the news to her. In his head, he had practiced many different ways of telling her on the way, but it all seemed so meaningless now.

'Well, it started when we caught wind of the government keeping hold of the Japanese in these prison camps.' Wasabi started, taking a deep breath and looking Cass in the eye. 'We got thinking, and we didn't know anything about these places, but we got hopeful, we needed to know if he was okay. We weren't just going to leave him, we need him back. So, we went and dug around a bit. Fred has quite a few connections through his family in the government, and we found the locations of these places. So, we went looking.

'It took a while, but we found him in a camp just on the outskirts of San Fransokyo. We used Fred's name to get into the camp, we were going to get him out then, but he refused.'

Throughout the story, Cass' face hadn't changed expression. It was as if she were listening to the story from somewhere far off, as if this was a story that didn't really involve her.

'He actually said to us in typical Hiro fashion that he wouldn't leave the people in the camp behind, and if he was going to leave, then so was everyone else. So, we volunteered to work there.' Wasabi continued, growing more relaxed as the story continued. 'And since then, we've been working on a plan of breaking the camp free, and getting Hiro out. We're actually a lot closer now than we were before. It's all coming together.'

'And what about Hiro?' Cass asked, silently. 'You said he was in some sort of prison camp? What's it like there?'

This was a moment Wasabi was dreading, he didn't know how much he should really say to her. He didn't want to upset her, but he also didn't want to lie to her about what was really going on either.

'He's not in the best way.' Wasabi said evasively. 'He can't stay there for much longer or he's going to die. They don't get fed regularly, and they get treated like dirt, but that's why we're going to free them and show the world what's really happening.'

'Is he in pain?' Cass asked, looking at Wasabi hopelessly.

'Yes.' Wasabi answered, he didn't want to say how much, or how little, but Cass needed to know.

But that was all it took for Cass to start bawling, fat streams of tears running down her face. Tears of grief, agony and for the realization that she hadn't been there to protect Hiro.

It took a while, but soon enough, Cass seemed to gather herself together. 'When you go and get him, I want to be there.' Cass told him, determined. 'I just want to be able to hold him and tell him everything will be all right, even if it's just once more.'

'Okay.' Wasabi answered. 'As soon as we have more arranged I'll let you know.'

'Thank you, Wasabi.' Cass said, 'is there more to the story that you aren't telling me?'

Wasabi hesitated. 'Yes,' he answered silently.

'But you won't tell me?'

'No.'

'I guess I'll just have to find out the hard way.' Cass sighed, 'do you have to go to the camp today?'

'Yes.' Wasabi answered her, feeling guilty. 'Oh, I also have one question for you.'

'What's that?' Cass asked him suspiciously.

'Can I borrow a couple of cameras?'


	19. Chapter 18

**Hey, guys. So, this is the game changer of a chapter. This one just kind of sprung itself out, and at nearly 3,500 words long, it just didn't seem to want to end either. My only problem with this chapter is the ending, the ending I had in my head doesn't really translate well into words I guess, I wanted it to be quite vague in description of what was going on, but for you guys to have some kind of idea of what was going on, but it just didn't seem to want to happen.**

**Some of the elements of this chapter is what I have been looking forward to for weeks and weeks and weeks. It even goes back to the beginning of this fic, and I only planned on having the actual camps in it for like 3 chapters...**

**So, thanks for all the reviews/favourites/alerts and so on, I am going to be replying to reviews just after I'm finished posting this one. But thanks to you all for taking the time to review, I do see them all, I'm just really shoddy at time management and replying!**

Chapter 18

A week of filming and secret meeting had cultivated in one of the biggest days in the Big Hero 6 history. On the rise of the sun of the seventh day, Wasabi woke to apprehension. Today was the big day. All the planning, uncertainty and nervousness had come to this day. The busses and the hospitals had all been arranged, and everything was set to go off as perfectly as they could hope for.

All they needed was for everything to go as they had planned. The video evidence was all being stored on multiple places, emails, clouds, phones, external hard drives and computers. Wasabi didn't think he could store anything in any other way, or any other place. The evidence was safe, and they would continue to record everything even after they had broken them free, just to see the outcome, and their reaction to freedom, because no matter how much they could prepare them for actually getting out of the camp, nothing could really prepare them for the outside world.

They would be living in secret, away from their homes in San Fransokyo, and they all knew that, but nothing was going to the feeling of not knowing what was actually going to prepare them for what was to come.

Cass had been told to leave the café to someone else, and to prepare for the worst. No one would be able to tell if they could go back to San Fransokyo for the time being.

From today onwards, they would be outcast, they would be exiled from San Fransokyo for helping the people who helped them build their city, but at least they would be doing it for the good of the people. The punishments would not last forever. They would make the people see what they were doing wrong, and they would change people's mind about what they were allowing to happen.

Xxxxx

The feeling on the camp on that morning was different. It was tight and tense, and the feeling slipped to the warden's notice. Hiro could tell that Blake knew that something was up, he always knew when something wasn't right, and he knew when to be suspicious about what was happening in his camp.

Hiro was sure that Blake had probably already informed the higher ups in the camp. Hiro wouldn't even be surprised if the mayor himself hadn't been informed. He knew the mayor would delight in the knowledge that their attempt to escape the camp failed.

Hiro tried to stretch his back out, feeling the blood that had crusted in lines across his back pull and protest at the movement. The pain that would usually follow was dull, his body too numb to really appreciate the pain it really was feeling. Blake had given him hell last night after Wasabi had left him. He could feel Blake getting tense that they weren't getting any results, and the longer Hiro stayed with him, his determination to give him nothing grew ever higher.

This time, Hiro was going to make sure that the plan didn't fail, and he would do everything in his power to make sure everyone managed to escape, even if it meant that he would have to die in the process. No longer would Blake rule over their lives. No longer would they be afraid.

And in amongst they fear, Hiro could feel their ambition, their drive to get out of this hell.

And for the first time in a long while, Hiro felt hope. He could feel the hope of his fellow prisoners, and he felt it inflate him, and wake him from the permanent slumber he was stuck in, and today would be the last day they would suffer at Blake's hands till they were the ones dealing out the punishments.

Xxxxx

Cass looked at the clock placed behind the television screen. It read 11. She was told not to leave the house till exactly 11.30 and told to memorize the directions to the camp. Cass had been alternately staring at the scrap of paper that Wasabi had given her, and the clock since exactly 6.53 that morning, and didn't know what else she was supposed to do. She didn't feel like eating, and she wasn't allowed to go down to the café, because she had told her staff she wasn't to be bothered as she would be going out for an important meeting mid morning. She didn't care what her staff thought of her now, she knew they thought Hiro leaving was for the best, but she couldn't disagree with them more strongly.

Cass had placed Baymax fully charged in the boot of her car; he was ready and waiting for her to go to him. She just needed the time to go faster.

Cass looked down at the paper, and recited it before she even read the words, before looking back at the clock. 11:05.

This was going to be a long half hour, but in the end, she knew it would always be worth it, because as they say, patience is a virtue.

Xxxxx

Honey Lemon found that the hardest part of the day had been the pretending that everything was okay and that there was nothing else going on. Keeping the act was proving to be the most difficult when all she wanted to do was to show her nerves, and to have someone understand her nerves, but she was the only one working in this kitchen who had any idea of what was going on.

Honey Lemon looked at the clock in the back of the kitchen, 11:45. They had exactly 33 minutes before it all went down. In 25 minutes, the busses would be pulling up outside the camp, in a blind spot they had scouted last week. It wasn't too far from the camp, but it would still be posing a risk unless they closed up the one and only entrance to the camp.

They had constructed a make shift entrance and exit to the camp after the second meeting, when the guards had become suspicious of why they kept coming back after dark.

The plan was to split the less able to go through that door, and it was Gogo's job to make sure they got out that way. She hadn't been too pleased about the idea of going it alone, but they needed her as a field warden to be able to scout the less able and get them out slowly that way. Her job started in exactly 22 minutes, and Hiro had made her a watch that would give her the most accurate time reading and tell her when to start moving.

Fred was to be the one who helped start the fight, he was to let everything get away from him and distract the guards, which they all knew he was good at. Wasabi was to make sure that Hiro was getting out fine, and Honey Lemon was to run and join them to get the last of them through the gates.

The bus drivers knew of the risks, the people on the other side knew of the risks, and they were all willing to go down if nothing worked, and if things didn't end up as they thought it would.

Xxxxx

Gogo looked at her watch, 12:07. It was time for her to start work. All the ones who were escaping the slower way knew who they were, and as soon as she did her rounds, would slowly start making their way towards the busses.

Gogo turned to look at Fred, and nodded at him. Noting his grin, she began to make her rounds, tapping each of the weak on the arm gently as she moved around the crowd. Gogo paid close attention to the guards and their placement around the workers and made sure that none of the prisoners looked obvious in their attempt to slowly start making their way towards their own private exit, closer to the busses.

It was all going well so far. But the really hard part was yet to come yet.

Finishing her round, Gogo checked the time. It was 12:10. The busses should be arriving now, and Gogo began leading the prisoners slowly towards the exit. They had all been briefed on where it was in case of the worst and they couldn't see Gogo, they all knew where to head.

It was time for it all to start, Gogo just hoped that Fred could control the guards long enough for the riots to well and truly start.

Xxxxx

Wasabi watched Hiro be strapped to the chair and looked to the clock at the side of the room. 12:18. The plan was officially starting now, but Wasabi could not do anything until someone came and got Blake to tell him something was happening. Or at least get Blake distracted enough to let something happen.

Wasabi watched as the first of the vials was injected into Hiro's skin, and Wasabi could see Hiro both physically and mentally resisting whatever was happening inside his body, he saw Hiro clench and unclench his fingers, but this time it did seem different. He was beginning to notice the signs of Hiro resisting whatever they were doing to him, and this time there seemed to be less resistance. Less of Hiro's fight in it.

'You noticed it, too, right?' Blake asked, tauntingly.

'Yes, he's not reacting as he usually does.' Wasabi answered.

'Yes, I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner. We added some muscle relaxant into it, so at least his body can't fight what we're trying. It's only in a small dose today, but I'm sure it'll slow his reactions down enough for us to get what we want out of him.' Blake explained with a smile, as if he'd added some extra honey to Hiro's tea.

Wasabi watched as it looked like Hiro's body gave up the fight, but he could tell that his mind was working over time to stop it. Wasabi wished that Hiro had opened up to him and told him what they wanted so he could have at least tried to help him, but this was the one thing that Hiro had been completely tight lipped about.

Suddenly, Wasabi could feel the floor of the room vibrating and he looked around quickly to see if anyone else had noticed it too. He noticed Blake smiling and began to get scared.

'Come on, Hiro. Don't try and stop it. I know how much it hurts you to stop it. We just need you to give in.' Blake coaxed.

'Never.' Hiro replied through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, there was a knocking at the door, and Blake turned around angrily.

'I thought I said no one to disturb me?' He shouted at the door.

'I'm sorry, sir.' A male voice replied, 'but there's a riot. The prisoners are rioting.'

'Shit.' Blake whispered, before turning back to Hiro. 'You planned this, didn't you? You stupid boy. You know it didn't work last time, so why would it this time?'

'What're you going to do?' One of the scientists asked.

'Nothing.' Blake replied, and Wasabi felt his world come crashing down. They were depending on Blake going out of the cabin to get Hiro out. Hiro not being able to move didn't much help either. Blake walked over to the door and started whispering to the man at the other side of the door.

Wasabi froze. He didn't know what to do. He needed to get Hiro out, and they needed for everything to perfectly, but he didn't know how that was going to happen.

Reacting on instinct, whilst Blake had his back turned. Wasabi charged, and using all the force he could, he used the palm of his hand and hit the back of Blake's head which sent him crashing into the frame of the door and to the floor unconscious.

Wasabi turned to the scientists in the room who stood there in shock, 'You make one move, and you'll be next.'

When neither scientist made a move against him, Wasabi rushed over to Hiro and began unstrapping him from the chair.

'What did you do?' Hiro asked, his voice slurred.

'It was nothing, but he's not going to be out for very long, so we need to get moving. Do you think you can move?' Wasabi asked in a hurry.

'Move? What does that mean?' Hiro asked him, and this raised alarm bells in Wasabi's mind. Deciding not to wait for Hiro to regain his sense, Wasabi picked him up and ran out of the room, barreling straight into the other warden at the other side of the door. Wasabi didn't even stop to check if the man was running after them, he knew he had a time limit and he knew he had to keep it. Hiro's life depended on this one moment.

Xxxxx

Hiro could feel his body moving, he could feel the world around him spinning, but he couldn't control it. His body felt disconnected and disjointed, and the only thing he had control over was not letting Blake get what he wanted.

'Hiro? You there, buddy?' He heard Wasabi calling. 'Come on, Hiro. Get yourself together. It's time to leave!'

'Where are we going? Where's Blake?' Hiro asked, his mind slowly coming more into focus, his brain running through a multitude of possibilities as to why the world was currently spinning as it was.

Suddenly a sharp pain rocked through Hiro's head and he felt himself falling to the floor, and the world darkening for a moment.

'Hiro?' He heard his name being called over and over again. He felt the sand on the floor; he felt the pain in his head. Moving his hands from the floor to his head, he gripped as hard as his weak arms could. His body was giving him resistance, and he couldn't understand why.

'What's going on? Why can't I move properly?' Hiro whined into the sandy floor.

'Blake gave you a relaxant. You probably won't be able to move your body for a while.' He heard Wasabi explain to him. 'Just let me carry you for a while, we'll get you out of here.'

'Okay.' Hiro answered him slowly, feeling his eyes become heavy and his body being lifted off the floor.

'Just don't fall asleep. I don't think you're reacting well to what they gave you.' Wasabi warned him, and Hiro couldn't even feel it in himself to answer him.

Hiro opened his eyes and looked around him for the first time, and noticed they were on the outskirts of the rioting. In the distance he could see Fred in the fray with a stupid grin on his face, and running toward him was Honey Lemon. There was no smile on her face.

'We need to go!' He heard her shouting, and Wasabi turning around to face her. 'What happened to Hiro?'

'I'll explain later, but we need to go now.' Wasabi told her quickly. 'Fred, lets get them going, the guards are down, lets go!'

Hiro felt his head begin to clear, but the pain persisted, and he felt his body vibrating. The pain making him want to scream, move, do anything, but he couldn't anything.

'I know it hurts, Hiro. We'll get you help as soon as possible.' Wasabi whispered reassuringly to him.

Hiro watched as the prisoners charged for the exit, with Fred in the middle of it all, happy as could be.

Wasabi and Honey Lemon followed at a slower pace, trying to minimize the amount of disruption placed upon Hiro as possible, as Hiro watched the exit coming closer and closer.

'Almost there, Hiro. Not much longer. We will win this!' Wasabi whispered to him.

'Yeah, Hiro, just think of all the fun we'll have out of this place.' Honey Lemon said with a strained voice. Hiro smiled at her, and turned his head slowly from Wasabi's shoulder to check to make sure all the prisoners from behind had made it out before him.

It was the biggest mistake he could have made.

Chasing behind them with blood rushing from his temple was Blake; the darkest and most venomous face Hiro had ever seen him wear.

Honey Lemon turned back to see what Hiro was staring at, and almost lost her step in shock.

'Wasabi, we might have a problem.' Honey Lemon said cautiously.

Wasabi stopped and turned around so that Hiro couldn't see anything any longer.

'Just a slight problem.' Wasabi confirmed. Hiro felt his frustration rise in his body, and with all the power he had in his body, he forced himself off Wasabi and stood on the ground.

'Hiro?' He heard Honey Lemon call out, but her voice sounded so far away from him that he didn't pay it any attention. All Hiro could see was Blake running toward them, and all the pay back he could offer just from standing in this position.

'Blake!' Hiro shouted, before cringing at the pain it caused to shout. 'You wanted to know if you managed, right?'

Hiro watched as Blake stopped, and he watched as Blake grinned. He could feel Honey Lemon and Wasabi's confusion, but he suddenly found he didn't care. He needed to keep Blake away, and he needed to keep his friends safe, and this was the best way possible.

Hiro raised his hand, his palm open.

'You were right.' Hiro said to him, and Blake stopped grinning and began making his way back towards Hiro.

'Hiro? What're you doing?' Honey Lemon asked uncertainly.

Hiro didn't answer her, but concentrated on the feeling he'd been trying to suppress for so long. Hiro felt the air, he felt the ground, and more importantly, he felt Blake. Hiro concentrated on that feeling as he felt the ground shake.

Hiro watched as if in slow motion, as Blake got closer and closer toward them.

'Come on, come on, come on.' He whispered to himself as he focused only on Blake. Blake who was not 10 feet from them now.

But suddenly, the pressure in Hiro's head spiked, and as if a dam had been released, Hiro felt a force leave his body, and thoughts and feelings flood his body. He watched as Blake stopped, but made the motion of trying to continue. He watched as Blake was lifted in to the air, his legs kicking at nothing in an attempt to escape.

'You wanted to know.' Hiro shouted at him, before Blake was thrown thirty meters back. 'And now you know.'

Hiro didn't wait to see what happened Blake before turning quickly to face the stunned faces of Wasabi and Honey Lemon. Slowly, but surely, all the strength that Hiro had suddenly gathered seemed to leave him, and he felt his body collapse to the floor.

'What the hell was that?' He heard Honey Lemon ask before another wave of pain hit his head, Hiro reached to grab his head, but found his arm to heavy to move. He cried out before he felt his body being picked up by the dutiful Wasabi.

'He needs help.' He heard Wasabi say before finally, Hiro's body gave out and his world turned black.


	20. Chapter 19

**Hey, guys! Here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Sorry for the short A/N in this one, I started my PhD last week, and boy it's a lot of work (especially when you're working 2 jobs, too...) So, this one is a bit shorter than last week too. Last week's chapter was about 3,200 words, then this one's about 1,800. But, hopefully you'll enjoy.**

**Thanks to everyone for reading/reviewing/favouriting/alerting this fic. It just continues to grow, and I'm continually amazed at everyone's response. So thank you all so much!**

**Xxxxx**

Chapter 19

'Hiro?'

'What's happened to him?'

'We need to get him to help!'

'I need to see him. What's going on?'

'What did he do?'

'What's all that on his back?'

'Is he bleeding?'

'Shit… He must have reopened wounds on his back.'

'We need to get him to a hospital, soon.'

'He's not breathing right.'

X

Hiro didn't know what was happening. It was dark, but the world felt swirly. There were voices. He was confused.

X

'Stay with us, Hiro.'

'That's it, little buddy. Breathe. It's okay, you're okay.'

'Hiro!'

X

Hiro was confused. People were calling him; people were telling him that he was okay. But okay from what? He didn't know. The voices sounded familiar to him, but it was as if he could tell them apart, as if they were all blending into one.

He couldn't think. His head hurt to think. His body hurt to think.

He could hear them calling to him, but he wanted to tell them to be quiet so he could sleep. He needed to sleep. His body was telling him to sleep. It was calling out to him, and it was lulling him into the warmth of sleep. He didn't need to fight anymore. He just needed to sleep.

X

'He's not breathing!'

'Hiro. Don't you dare die, now!'

'We're almost there, he just needs to hold on a few seconds more.'

X

Sleep was so peaceful. He could feel the warm glow surrounding him and telling him that he was finally peaceful.

_Don't go to sleep just yet, Hiro_.

What? He didn't get it. Who was talking to him?

_You know who it is, Hiro._

He didn't know who it was.

_Just wake up, Hiro. It's better out there for you._

It wasn't. Though, at that moment he couldn't quite figure out just why it was better her.

_Just do as your big brother tells you, Hiro_

Xxxxx

'He's breathing!' Honey Lemon exclaimed.

'Thatta boy, Hiro. We you knew you weren't going to die.' Fred chimed.

Wasabi reached out a hand, and gingerly touched Hiro's forehead. It was hot. Too hot. He didn't want to celebrate too early, but they'd made it through the first hurdle. It had certainly gone by in a rush.

Wasabi couldn't accurately describe what had happened after Hiro had taken down Blake, but things had certainly moved quickly. He remembered Hiro falling. He remembered running to Hiro, picking him up and running back to the bus.

_We forgot to pick up my car_, Wasabi thought disjointedly as he kept his fingers gripped around Hiro's too thin wrist. The rhythm beating steadily reassured him that Hiro was still with them for now.

Wasabi sighed and resigned himself to needed to get a new car. They certainly couldn't go back and pick it up now. He couldn't even file it stolen because that would give away their location. He was sure the police would be looking for them now, if Blake ever got back up to fight against them.

Wasabi looked at the rest of the bus, many of the people on the bus were looking directly at them, all of them worried for Hiro. A lot of them had seen what Hiro had done, and no one really wanted to think about what he had done. What he could have potentially done.

In the whole commotion of escaping, Wasabi realized they had never even given Cass a chance to see Hiro. Though, it probably would have been better if Cass had not seen him in his state. Not that they would be able to hide it once the bus stopped.

Wasabi looked out the window at the town that was surrounding them, it wasn't big, but they had driven for hours. They had arranged to come as far away from San Fransokyo as they could, but accounting for the state the prisoners were in, it couldn't be very far. Looking at the other buses that had followed them, Wasabi couldn't see any of the other prisoners. They were probably too scared to even look out the window. At the end of the line, he saw Cass' car, she was too far away from him to read her body language, but knowing Cass as she was, she was probably freaking out.

At least she had Gogo to try and calm the storm slightly. Even if it was only slightly.

Xxxxx

Cass was a writhing ball of worry. She had hoped to catch at least a little sight of Hiro before the busses had left, but there wasn't a chance. She understood that they needed to move fast, and sometimes, some things do not go to plan, but she only wanted to catch a small glimpse of him, to reassure herself that he was in fact, still alive.

She would just have to wait now.

She busses were beginning to slow down in front of a hospital, but there was no way this small town hospital would be able to take them all. At least, that's what she thought.

'It's fine. Not all the prisoners are going here. Only the ones in desperate need of medical attention will be stopping here, the rest are going a little bit further down the road, to a safe place to be seen to by volunteers and get some food and water.' Gogo explained from the seat next to her.

'Is Hiro stopping here?' Cass asked quietly.

Gogo didn't respond for a moment, causing anxiety to build in Cass' stomach.

'Yes.' Gogo eventually answered as she turned her head to look out the window. 'There aren't actually all that many people stopping here. We've been looking after them all for quite some time now, and we know the ones who really need a hospital to ones who can survive for the moment.'

'But Hiro is bad enough to need this place?' Cass asked, her hands beginning to get clammy as she parked up the car in the closest available space to the bus.

'He is.' Gogo answered. 'I'm just going to be straight with you here. Hiro is not in a good place at the moment, he is in some serious need of help. So, I'm just warning you not to freak out or anything.'

'I haven't seen him in so long, I don't really know how I'll react.' Cass warned.

'He does look very different now.' Gogo replied, nervous for what Cass would be like. 'He's not like the Hiro you remember.'

With that final message, Cass walked towards the buses with Gogo hot on her heels. Reaching the front of back of the buses where a few prisoners were already starting to exit, Cass was upset, but not shocked as she had been the first time she'd seen the prisoners. She'd met up with Gogo first and gotten quite a few of them onto the first bus.

It was Hiro who she was pining to see now.

It seemed like an age, and a thousand prisoners got off the bus before it even looked like Hiro would get off the bus.

She was waiting for his smile, his face.

She could capture his image in her mind and wait for him to come off.

'We need someone back here!' Came Wasabi's shout as nurses and doctors came rushing to the bus.

'He's not breathing right.' Cass heard Honey Lemon explain to the nurse who was rushing around on the bus.

Anxiety overtook Cass as she walked onto the bus. She needed to see him.

'Cass!' She heard Gogo shout, 'just wait for him to come out.'

Cass ignored her. She needed to see Hiro herself. She couldn't wait any longer.

She walked towards the nurses; she walked towards Wasabi, Fred and Honey Lemon. They were at the center of the bus, and on the floor. And on the floor.

There he was.

Her beautiful, beautiful Hiro.

His hair was short. It was no longer the gravity-defying mop that it once was. It had lost its shine, its dark glow that she had loved about his hair.

Then she looked at his face. She knew his face would thin out over time. He would lose his baby fat one day, but this was not what she had imagined. His face was skeletal, his cheekbones prominent, his eyes sunken.

Following the lines of his neck stood prominent collarbones and Cass knew without even seeing, if his shirt didn't cover it, she would see each and every rib bone.

Cass felt herself fall to the floor in a daze.

He was too thin. He was too ill.

But most importantly. She couldn't see his eyes. His beautiful, glowing, brown eyes were closed. His chest stuttered. A nurse hurriedly attached an oxygen mask onto his face and grabbed onto his wrist to feel for a pulse.

'Has he stopped breathing at all in the time it took to get here?' The nurse asked methodically. Cass felt her throat constrict. Breathing was becoming heavier.

'He stopped breathing once.' Wasabi answered, 'his pulse is weak, but its there.'

Cass felt her eyes well up. The tears beginning to fall. She was hopeless.

'We need to get him inside.' The nurse told them, but it was when they started moving him, Cass noticed the blood.

'Why is he bleeding?' She asked, not taking her eyes off Hiro's face.

'Cass?' Wasabi began. 'I didn't even see you come in.'

'Why is he bleeding?' Cass repeated, she wanted to reach out and hold Hiro. She wanted to be the comforting mother, but she couldn't move. Her body wouldn't let her move, the world around her was crashing around her and, god damn it Hiro needed her, but she could even find the strength to move. Her body was paralyzed onto the floor of the bus, and she couldn't even be enough of a mother to comfort her remaining child.

'What happened?' Cass asked again.

'The wounds on his back reopened.' Wasabi answered evasively, and Cass knew that wasn't the answer she wanted.

'What kind of wounds?' She asked listlessly as the nurse began to lift the back of Hiro's shirt. That was when she caught sight of them. The marks. Thick to thin lines on his back. She knew what those marks were, and the thought of Hiro suffering in that way terrified her.

'We can't do anything for him here.' The nurse explained. 'I need someone to keep pressure on his back as we lift him out of the bus and onto the stretcher waiting outside.'

'I'll do it.' Cass replied, instantly. She forced her body to move, standing up and walking closer to Hiro's skeletal body.

For now she would be strong, for now she would need to be strong for Hiro. She would not leave him alone, and she would go to hell and back to make sure he lived. If this was the only thing she could do for him, then by hell she would be there and she would look after him forever.


	21. Chapter 20

**Hey, guys. I know this is so late, and I am really, really sorry about that. Things have been just ever so slightly crazy. I knew I had a lot of work coming up with my studies, and I thought I'd be okay and that I'd be able to manage it all, but I couldn't. I've literally not stopped for the last like month or so. So, hopefully you'll all forgive me for my tardy chapter. This chapter was actually written in pieces and in conjunction with my presentation on James Joyce's Ulysses, which is why it might seem a little scatterbrained and like there's not much going on. But, trust me, if you've read Ulysses then you'll understand there's a lot more going on here than a chapter of Ulysses. **

**Hopefully you'll all accept my deepest and most sincere apologies about the lateness of this chapter. I have so much going on at the moment that from now on, I am going to be aiming to upload a new chapter every two weeks on a Sunday, instead of every week. I hope that's okay with everyone else! :)**

**But, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/alerted/read these chapters. I am grateful for all of your continued support. **

**P.S. This is quite a short chapter in comparison to some that have come out recently, it was written in small pieces which made it super hard to really decide what I wanted to do with this chapter, but it'll pick up next week!**

Chapter 20

'What are we going to do now?' Gogo asked as she looked at the other occupants in Hiro's hospital room. 'We managed to get everyone out and into safe houses, but they can't stay there forever.'

'I know that,' Wasabi answered. 'But we need to know how Hiro's going to do. What he wants to do.'

'What about the other people we got out? They have literally nowhere to go. We need to get those videos out there, we need the people to realize what exactly is happening out there.'

'I know, but Hiro is a big part of what happened out there. He knows more about those camps than most of the prisoners in there!' Wasabi argued.

'And how? What's different from Hiro's experience than anyone else's?' Gogo asked.

Wasabi turned to all the faces in the room, and went silent. It wasn't his place to say anything, but they all knew that something had happened to Hiro. How could they not have picked up that he knew more than what he was letting on? It was the elephant in the room, and no one wanted to bring up exactly what had happened with Hiro during their escape.

'Tell us, Wasabi. What did they do to Hiro?' Honey Lemon asked. Wasabi turned to Cass who was sitting as close to Hiro as she could physically get, his hand firmly held in her own. But Wasabi could tell, he could practically feel her listening in.

'I don't know.' Wasabi answered eventually.

'What do you mean you don't know? You spent the most time with him!' Gogo shouted.

'I know, I know. I just don't know.' Wasabi told her.

'What can he do? Is he like a real super hero now?' Fred cut in with an underlying excitement.

'I don't know.' Wasabi replied.

'You keep saying that, but somehow I don't believe you.' Gogo said, angrily.

'Why don't we just look at the video feed?' Honey Lemon asked.

'No!' Wasabi shouted quickly.

'Why not?' Fred asked.

'It's not our place to know until Hiro says it is.' Wasabi answered, his palms beginning to sweat with nerves.

'Hiro's our friend, and we can't just sit idly by until he wakes up. What happens if Blake comes back? What happens if he finds us?' Gogo asked.

'We need to be prepared for anything.' Honey Lemon added. 'We'll explain everything to Hiro when he wakes up, but we have hundreds of people waiting on our move, and we need to move quickly.'

Xxxxx

In the end, Wasabi couldn't deny them any further, and no matter how much he pleaded and tried his best to persuade them, he couldn't win. They had been set in their ways, and deep down, Wasabi knew this would be best. Easier. Hiro wouldn't have to go through the trouble of telling them himself.

They had hooked up Wasabi's laptop to the television in Hiro's room, and they were all waiting for Wasabi to begin playing the video. Wasabi was the only one who had access to his video recordings, Wasabi had set up different hard drives and sharing locations to the normal for this.

'Anything you want to say before we start?' Cass asked gently, and Wasabi couldn't bear to look at her. They would finally find out what Hiro had been through and how he had just stood there and let it happen. How he had not helped Hiro, or got things moving any faster.

'I'm sorry. That's what I would like to say.' Wasabi whispered, his eyes fixed on the screen. Wasabi got up from his chair and walked to the television to start the video. He didn't feel like he should say anything more. He couldn't think of anything else to say to make this moment any easier.

The film started with Hiro in his chair, strapped and calm, and Wasabi watched as if it was something he had not seen himself. It was like he was numb and unable to take his eyes off the screen. He could feel the other people in the room, he could feel them shrinking in horror, he could feel their sadness, but all Wasabi could feel was numb. He would not do Hiro any disservice by breaking down now, he had survived for so long now, and he would not break at this moment.

He would stand, and he would take this head on, because Hiro had taught him how to live, and how to move on and how to deal with the situation that was before him.

'I can't watch anymore.' Cass said, walking up to the video and stopping it. 'What kind of monster would do that?'

'Blake would do that.' Wasabi answered.

'Why did you just stand there? Why didn't you help him sooner?' Cass asked, tears streaming down her face. Wasabi flinched thinking of everything Blake had told him, everything Hiro had told him.

'Because of Blake, and because of Hiro. Blake told me he would kill Hiro if anything was ever said, and Hiro. He pleaded with me not to say anything, at first I didn't understand why this needed to be a secret, or why I went in there, why they chose me. But, now, I know Hiro knew what they were doing to him. He knew what the outcome would be, and he didn't want to put us in any danger.' Wasabi explained.

'But why Hiro? Why would Blake do this to Hiro?' Honey Lemon asked.

'I don't know. That's something you'd have to ask Hiro. They all left me in the dark other than to bring me in to watch that.' Wasabi answered honestly.

'Well, the only thing we can do is to wait for him to wake up and for Hiro to tell us exactly how he ended up in that situation.' Gogo answered.

Wasabi looked over to Fred, who was sat on his char, his eyes glued to the screen.

'What's wrong, Fred?' Wasabi asked.

'Maybe Hiro can do more than that wacky mind stuff. Maybe they've turned him into like the Wolverine or something?' He answered eventually, turning to look at Wasabi, and for the first time in a long time, Wasabi saw excitement in his eyes.

Wasabi would have laughed, but as if on cue, Hiro's heart monitor started beating frantically. His breathing hitched, and he started making choking noises.

All of them ran to his bedside, whilst Cass ran to the door screaming for help.

'Hiro? You have to pull through this. Don't you dare die on us.' Wasabi warned.

'Woman up.' Gogo added, grabbing a hold of his hand in an uncharacteristic sign on affection.

'You will survive this, Hiro. I know it.' Honey Lemon added as nurses pulled them from his bedside.

_Xxxxx _

_When is he going to wake up?_

_Come on, Hiro, please wake up!_

_Did you really think you could escape me, Hiro? I know everything about you. I know all your secrets, and I know where you are. Don't think you are safe for even a second, because I will come and get you. We're not done with you just yet._

_Hiro? Can you hear me? Hiro?_

_They're calling for you, Hiro. But how do you know it's really them? How do you know it's not just me waiting for you? How do you know that I haven't already gotten to you? You can't escape me, you know that, and eventually, everyone else will know it, too. _

Hiro groaned, his heart racing. He was confused. He was afraid. He didn't want to wake up and find out that they had failed and he was still with Blake. He tried thinking back to what he remembered, but he couldn't remember the escape. He remembered voices, pain and darkness. He didn't know what had happened, and now he couldn't guarantee that he ever even escaped.

'Hiro?' Hiro knew that voice, but he didn't want to believe that she was here. He didn't want to believe that Blake could have captured her as well. 'Hiro? Hey, honey, stay with us.'

'Aunt Cass?' Hiro asked, his voice groggy from disuse. Slowly, he started to open his eyes to meet the excited eyes of his friends and Aunt Cass.

'Thank God, Hiro. We were so worried!' Honey Lemon explained.

'Yeah, man. We thought we'd lost you for a moment there.' Wasabi added.

'Dude, you were awesome, by the way. You'll have to show me how you did those levitating techniques, man.' Fred added.

'What?' Hiro asked quickly, looking at everyone in the room. This couldn't be real, they couldn't know.

_Did you really think I'd let you escape that easily? I'm actually kind of offended, Hiro_.


End file.
